It'll NEVER BE BELLA!
by edWaRd'sGiRL0630
Summary: The third installment of a Fangirl's adventures in the Twilight Saga. She doesn't love Jacob, she's not with Edward, her best friends are wrapped up with wedding plans, Marcus and Alec won't leave her alone, and she there's Victoria. She's so screwed.
1. Preface

**HELLLO everyone! It's Eclipse time! Oh, my goodness, I know. I'm so excited. Like, really _really _excited! I just wanted to say thanks for all the guesses on the quotes and I have to tell you...no one got them all correct...a lot of people got most of them correct, but they weren't just the normal characters. The quotes were from Riley, Emmett, Marcus, Tanya, Edward, Jessica Stanley, and Angel! Not necessarily in that order...any more guesses now?**

**Well, that should be enough from me. Without further ado, here is the PREFACE! I liked that word better than prologue...so yeah! Enjoy!**

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**Synopsis: The third installment of a Fangirl's adventures in the Twilight Saga. She doesn't love Jacob (she thinks), she's not with Edward (at least, she's not sure if she is or not…kissing doesn't count, right?), and her own best friends are so wrapped up with wedding plans, she feels like she's working alone. Along with problems with Marcus and Alec and the Volturi, she has Victoria and Riley and Bree to worry about too. Plus, her parents are coming to town and towing along her vampire-hating grandmother. She's so screwed.**

**Preface**

I'm brighter. I'm stronger. I'm smarter. I knew every move she would make. I'd planned _everything_.

She should be dead by now. She should have been dead weeks ago.

I'd done the unthinkable, but it wasn't enough. Well, at least I can die happy. I can die loved. And, if what she said was true, I wouldn't be alone when I died. Hopefully, God won't mind that I've lied, cheated, stolen from Alice on multiple occasions, and almost given up my virtue.

I can't believe I hadn't seen this coming. I mean, really, how did I _not _see this coming? And here I thought he loved me.

Guess not.

Victoria looked too damn happy for her own good. Well, she should know, we aren't going down without a fight.

A howl ripped through the forest, tipping me off that it was going to be one hell of a fight. "Bring it, bitch."


	2. Chapter 1

***Disclaimer* **

**Hello, everyone! it's been a while, sorry about that...I was really trying to perfect everything. I'm doing something a little different this time around...i'm adding more of a sense of mystery...not stupid mystery like "who's attacking seattle? who is that red-haired vampire who's after me that looks so familiar?" no, i'm not doing that...this is actually mysterious because I thought of it myself! :) **

**Anyway, the first little snipbit is the _mystery_...and then onto the normal chapter :) **

**review when you're done! i love to hear theories :) **

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He was asleep, leaning against a tree in the forest, when she came across him. He usually was, but that didn't mean anything to her. She would wake him. She always did.

Her red hair was wet from the rain that she had to run through to reach him. She told him it wouldn't hurt her, nor would she get sick because she would never get sick.

Because she was a vampire.

And, because she loved him. She would go through much worse if it meant reaching him. She'd said so herself. She was the first one who ever actually felt anything for him. She didn't treat him like everyone else did—like an annoying fly that wouldn't leave them alone.

She smiled when he jerked awake and almost fell over. He sighed her name as she leaned in closer to kiss him, "Victoria…"

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_**I So Do Not Need An Ultimatum! **_

_-Bella-_

_-Sarah-_

**_Bella, _**

_-I don't know why—wait, that's what I say in the book, but seriously this is like second grade— _

_-You told me that you want to end up with Edward after your whole 'this is who I am' thing…you know, don't you think you should have figured that out by now. I think I know who I am and I'm two years younger—_

_-You know, you're the one playing completely by the book—_

_-Damn, this is hard…Stephanie Meyer totally took all of the good freaking lines-_

_-Why don't you just take your quasi maybe not boyfriend—_

**_Aw, hell. Yeah, I miss you, too. A lot. Doesn't change anything. Sorry. _**

Okay, that was pretty funny. I could totally picture Jacob writing this and finally picking exactly what the book said. He'd be mad that he couldn't figure something else to write instead. Some crap about being his own person, not his own character.

Whatever.

He _was _right about the second grade thing, but I didn't give it to Charlie to give to Billy to give to Jacob. No, that was _way _too many channels. I gave it to Seth to give it directly to Jake. Because I'm just smart like that.

But, obviously, my intuition didn't help. I'm still stuck here like the Bella Swan I am, not knowing what in the hell I'm going to do about Jacob 'Thorn in my side' Black. But, unlike the book Bella Swan, I have no desire to kiss him. A lot would have to change to make me want to do anything around those lips. Except maybe punch him in the face.

But, that's only if he tries to kiss me.

Now that I think about it, maybe I should have included the kissing parts in the censored version of Eclipse that I handed out. Maybe Jake would…not kiss me if he knew that I knew they were coming. I have a distinct feeling Edward would stop them if he knew when they were coming. Well, maybe not. Oh, I don't know!

I don't know _anything _anymore. I've lost my only advantage over everyone now! I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day! And, you wanna know something? I DO NOT LIKE IT! Okay, maybe that's not entirely true because I do know what might happen because I've planned everything out perfectly and things should happen the way I want them to.

I pretty much only gave everyone fifty or so pages to read since most of the book focused on my relationship issues—well, _Bella's _relationship issues—and everyone who hasn't talked about their back-stories. I included those just so Rosalie or Jasper wouldn't get mad when they found out that their personal histories were in the book and I already knew about them. It made Rosalie like me better! Jasper, though, was Jasper. He just sort of shrugged it off and ran after Alice to do whatever it is they do together.

Ew!

Personally, though, I think she's just using him and everyone else in a plot to get me and Edward back together. One wedding for her just isn't enough.

Edward hasn't really spoken to me much since the day we blew up at each other watching New Moon, which was almost a month ago. A whole month! I mean, sure, we say hello in the halls at school and maybe talk about homework during class, but that's it. It's not that we don't _want _to see or talk to one another, we've just both been totally wrapped it with all sorts of things. I've been crazy busy—Ava's wedding is coming up fast, a graduation party is in the works, the announcement of valedictorian is days away, oh yeah, and the Volturi supposedly want to kill me. And I'm supposed to worry about romance right now?

Not bloody likely!

"Bella?"

I whipped around from my desk to see someone still hadn't learned to knock. "Alec! What did I say about jumping in my house through the window?"

He cracked a smile, a rarity for most days. "Don't do it. But I'm the law, so I can do whatever I want."

"Not anymore, remember? You're on _our _side now. Unless you don't _want _to hear what Miss Britney sent me today, then stop sneaking up on me!" I'm so evil when it comes to teasing him. I know, I know, he's probably eight times my age, but I just can't help myself. He acts just like a little kid when I talk about the girl that he's fallen in love with. Even though he's only seen her the one time when we were in Italy. Even though that's technically true, they've talked over the internet a lot since I realized I still had her e-mail address, phone number, and cell phone number because she wrote them on the map she drew for Alice and me when we were in Volterra. That girl is quite insane, but, then again, so is Alec.

He lunged towards my computer with too much speed. I still don't like him coming too close to me. He's only just started his humans-only diet, and I'm not taking any chances. Sure, he has Ava helping him with her persuasion thing, but I don't completely trust her powers at the moment. Not since she's so stressed. "No, I do! What did she say? Did she say something about me? Why didn't she e-mail me back?"

I tried laughing, but he was starting to annoy me too much. "You sound like a teenage girl. Now, shut up, I have actual work to do." I tried turning myself back around to finish my calculus homework that had taken me all afternoon, but his stupid vampire strength wouldn't let me.

"Bella, please." He whined. His eyes weren't quite the terrifying red color they used to be, but they aren't quite gold just yet. They're almost the same kind of color that mine are, but obviously I'm still not a vampire. I wouldn't be so freaked about everything if I were a vampire. I might actually be able to get everything I need to done since I wouldn't have to sleep anymore. But, no! I have to wait just like Bella did. Ugh, life can be so unfair sometimes.

"She just wanted some friendly advice, and I've been sworn to secrecy both on what she wanted that friendly advice about and on the date of her arrival for a visit."

"She's coming here?" He thundered in my room. Luckily for him, Seth and Leah weren't home right now or they would have burst in my room without a thought and ripped him to pieces. Just for freaking them out with the screaming.

"Bella, what was that? Is someone up there with you?"

I sighed and pushed myself away from Alec. "Now you've done it. Uncle Charlie's mad. You better get out of here before he tries to kill you." _And me_, but I didn't say that out loud. Alec doesn't need any reason to want to kill anyone. "No, I didn't realize the volume was up on my computer. Sorry!" I shouted back before he could come upstairs to investigate. Standing in the doorway, I realized something was burning downstairs. Great, he's trying to suck up to me tonight. I just wish he didn't suck at it so badly. "I was just messing with you, Alec. I'm pretty sure you'll be the first to know when your little girlfriend is coming to visit."

"She's not my girlfriend." He muttered. Oh, here we go. He's been hanging around Edward too much lately for his own good.

"Don't mutter. You sound just like Edward, and not in a good way." I started to head downstairs before Uncle Charlie set the house on fire, but Alec stopped me again.

"Wait, there was something that I needed to tell you."

"You mean this wasn't a social visit? I'm hurt."

He just rolled his eyes at me. I've grown slightly fond of Alec since he and Marcus showed up here unannounced during our viewing of _New Moon_. They probably saved me from an onslaught of questions about my engagement, or lack thereof, to Edward when we watched the end of it. I'd been quite grateful, though, not quite as grateful as Alec is to me for giving him all of Britney's information and getting them to finally talk. I think Alec has grown slightly fond of me as well, but you'd never catch him saying that. At least not out loud. "Edward sent me. He wanted to tell you something, but it didn't really make sense to me. He just said 'Go get Bella and bring her here, would you?' and I said yes. So, here I am." He was totally about to throw me on his back and run, but I side-stepped him.

"And he didn't say what he wanted to talk to me about? Well, I am not going anywhere until I get clearance from my uncle. It might take me an hour or so, but I'll get there when I get there. Edward can wait. Just tell him I'll be there when I'm ungrounded, m'kay?"

He rolled his eyes again. Okay, so maybe he isn't as fond of me as I thought. "You two should just talk to each other." I glared at him. He knows why Edward and I aren't together right now. My trust issues are very important to me! "Bella, you've helped me be happy, and I want you to be happy too."

"I am happy." I growled at him. I am completely aware that that was a bit contradictory, but I don't care. And I'm not going to laugh with him like Bella and Charlie do in the book.

He backed off, thank goodness. I thought I was going to have to beat him up like I did to Felix. "Really? I've seen people I've made completely numb look happier than you."

"Goodbye, Alec." Damn, he's annoying.

"Actually, there was something else I was supposed to ask you."

I swear, the more vampires I meet, the more I find that most of them are a pain in the butt. "Yes?"

"Marcus is still awaiting your decision. He wants to make a preemptive strike soon, most likely when Jane comes to town for the newborn army in Seattle, but he doesn't want to do anything without your input."

My stomach dropped immediately. _Marcus._ "He's a big boy, he can plot without my help." Alec sent me a look. He and I both know that Marcus doesn't work like that and there's nothing either of us can do about it. "Fine, just tell him I'm still processing. That should hold him off for a while."

"You want me to tell him that last part too?" Alright, here's the biggest thing about Alec that just does not make him the proper kind of friend: when he tries to cheer you up, it doesn't help!

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Get. Out. NOW!"

He didn't have to be told twice. "See you later, Bella." He said with a smirk before jumping back out of my window. I do not want to hear any belly-aching from Leah or Seth when they get back about how bad my room smells now that I generally have anywhere from three to six vampires visit my room a day. I can't help that I'm so popular amongst the Cullens.

Crap it! I forgot about Uncle Charlie burning up the house. I ran downstairs faster than the speed of sound to save the microwave from burning up. This is what happens when Uncle Charlie tries to suck up to me on a night when Sue is out visiting her friends. "What did I do wrong?"

I pulled out the spaghetti sauce out of the microwave and poured it in a bowl. "You're supposed to take the lid off before placing it in the microwave. I just saved you from death by exploding microwave. You're welcome."

He watched me fix everything, and suddenly gestured to the stove. "Did I get anything else wrong?" Apparently, he was trying to make my favorite: spaghetti and meatballs. He was splendid at making the meatballs, not so much with the spaghetti.

"Well, stirring the noodles is always good for them."

He ran his hands through what was left of his hair. "Damn, I need Sue."

"Well, luckily for the other occupants of this house, it's just you and me tonight for dinner." I smiled as I tried to de-clump the spaghetti. I should have known from the book, though, that it was a fool's errand. "So, thanks for making me my favorite. Now, what do you want?"

He started to protest, but I raised my eye brows at him. He wasn't going to outsmart me. "I just thought you might like something nice from me since, according to Sue, I've been a little mean to you lately."

"I'm a big girl, Uncle Charlie. You were completely within your rights to ground me. I _needed _to be grounded." It gave me an excuse not to go down to La Push and beat up Jacob.

"Glad you feel that way." I fixed us two globs of noodles with the sauce and two meatballs. It might look disgusting, but it'll be delicious. "Because I want to talk to you about it."

"You could have just walked upstairs and talked to me instead of trying to burn down the house to get my attention." I smiled. He's in a good mood today. I guess there hasn't been much to worry about down at the police station lately. Oh, how things are going to change for him. I wonder if Riley has a missing-persons report filed on him.

"Yeah. I'll remember that next time. I thought making your favorite dinner would soften you up."

"Consider me a marshmallow. What's up, Uncle Charlie?"

"Well, it's about Jacob." Ugh, I forgot about this. I've been so wrapped up in the other parts of the book, I forgot part of my ungrounding requires me to include Jake. Whoops!

"Oh, yeah? What about him?" I tried to keep my voice upbeat. Uncle Charlie had no idea that Jacob and I haven't entirely spoken to one another in a month or about the motorcycles, which saved my butt majorly from an eternity of grounding.

"Don't get mad at me, okay?" Well, that was unexpected. I need to brush up on my Eclipse dialogue soon, or I'm going to be totally lost.

"And why would I get mad?"

"It's about Edward, too." Oh, _that's _why I would get mad. I straightened just a little in my chair at the mention of his name. That stupid _stupid-head_! "I told you not to get mad. It's not bad or anything."

"I'm not mad at you. I'm mad about someone else…what is it you have to tell me about Edward and Jacob that required you to cook?" Just unground me so I can go see what the hell Edward wanted to talk to me about.

"Okay, so I'm thinking maybe you deserve a parole for good behavior. For a teenager, you've taken everything relatively well. And look what grounding you has done for your grades! Your parents might just get to hear you give a valedictorian speech when they come for your graduation." If they come, which they probably shouldn't because of how dangerous everything is, but maybe the Cullens can figure out something to do to keep them safe. I do wish they could come see me. I miss them a lot. But, hey, I have two tickets to go visit them anytime I want to.

"So…I'm free?" I seriously need to talk to Edward now!

"Conditionally."

"This is the part that requires Jacob, isn't it?"

He grinned sheepishly. "Don't tell Sue, okay? I just want you to use your freedom to talk with your other friends besides Edward." He threw up a finger when I started to object, seeing as I don't talk to Edward all that much, but I let him go on. "I know, your broken up with him now, but that's gonna end really soon, I'd bank on it."

"I was _going _to say that I do talk to my other friends besides Edward. I talk to Lizzie, Alice, Alec, Angel, Emmett, Jasper, and Angela and her boyfriend on a daily basis. Eric and Jessica won't talk to me because I'm trying to steal valedictorian from them."

"And what about that Mike Newton boy? You seemed to have a shine for him when you first came here."

I had to hold in a gag. Um, that's just icky. "No. If I hold anything for Mike Newton, it's friendly disdain. He does sit at our table, though, so I guess I can count him too." If I must.

"Okay, fine, you got me there. But then…" Oh, God, here we go with Jacob talk, "You and Jake used to be joined at the hip, and now—"

"He and I had a fight. And now _he _won't talk to _me_. It's not like I haven't tried to get in touch with him, he's just being…" Stubborn? A butthead? A headstrong teenage wolf? "Difficult."

Uncle Charlie was back at glaring at me. I would totally win at a glare-off if he wanted to bring it. "Bella, the Blacks are practically family—"

"Is that why you're on Team Jacob?" He blinked. Crap it, I shouldn't have said that. I really need to get that filter in my head checked out.

"Excuse me, did you say 'Team Jacob'?"

Crap it! Crap it! CRAP IT! "Yeah…there's this sort of poll thing going on that all my friends are in on. They're voting on whether I should end up with Edward or Jacob…hence the 'Team Jacob' thing."

Uncle Charlie is so going to throw me into an asylum for this! "So, who's winning?"

Never mind, I'm throwing him into one. "It's a tie. My vote will be the deciding factor."

"Hmm, I see. Well, I guess I'll just have to advertise for Team Jacob. Go, team!" I just glared at him. He would get the idea eventually.

"I'm telling Sue…" Oh, yeah, that'll make him shut up really fast.

"Alright, alright! No Team Jacob, but I still want you to use your freedom judiciously—keep it balanced."

"Balance, got it." Good gracious, I really want to see what Edward wanted! "Would you mind if I go somewhere if I'm back before twelve?" What could be so important that he would send Alec here to get me? Why didn't he come himself? Why do I care?

"Make it eleven _and _tell me where you're going and you've got yourself a deal."

"Umm…" How do I word this? "Edward…called…and he needs my help with…something. It's school related, though. And I'm sure that my other friends will be there too!" I added that last bit just to make him feel better. Maybe Edward decided he'd had enough and he's going to beg me to get back together with him. God, I need to get out of here.

"Bella…" Uncle Charlie warned. If he starts back on Jacob again, I'll have to leave just to shut him up.

I finished the rest of my food within a second, washed the plate, and grabbed my keys before he could start. "I'll be back by eleven! Thanks for dinner, it was great!"

"Bells, wait! There's something else." Damn, so close!

"Oh, yeah?"

"This came in the mail today." He handed me a huge envelope that must have weighed at least two pounds. Of course, it was already open too. I flipped it over to see which college it was from. "Dartmouth. You got in."

"You read it? I'm shocked at you, Sheriff."

He shrugged. "I was curious. We should talk about tuition, though. Your parents already said that they would pay for the bulk of it, but Sue and I talked, and we want to chip in some too—"

"Uncle Charlie! You've got two other kids you'll have to pay for college soon. Besides, I'm just your squatter niece. You don't have to pay for anything. And, truth be told, I'm not really sure where I want to go yet." Neither Edward nor Ava had told me where they'd been accepted. The truth of the matter is Aro might decide it's time for me to work for him before I can actually go to college.

"We'll discuss this more later." He kept edging towards the TV in the other room. I must be keeping him for some game.

"Who's playing tonight?"

"I don't know, but Sports Center will tell me." He laughed at my scowl. "Have fun at the Cullens! Say hi to Alice for me."

"Will do!" I was rolling my eyes as I got up to leave out the back, only to run into a tall, pale, ice-cold and rock hard man. "Edward! I was just on my way to see you."

"You took too long." Okay, so this wasn't _bad _news since he looked happy enough. I mean, he was smiling that lovely crooked smile of his at me.

I pushed him outside and closed the door before Uncle Charlie could figure out he was here. "Sorry, Uncle Charlie had a lot of ground to cover. So, what's up? What was the thing that you sent Alec to tell me that you needed to tell me?" I know we've technically been broken up for a little over a month, but try telling my heart that. It still beats in hyper-drive whenever I see him. It's probably wrong that it does that since he can hear it.

Well, he hears it a lot. He can probably hear the butterflies in my stomach fluttering around, too. He could definitely see that every single time he talks his voice makes me blush like I've been caught in my underwear or something. It's ridiculous really. I've told myself time and time again that I should just get back together with him, and I will, I'm just not ready.

At least, I don't think I am. I'm not sure. In my mind, I'll know everything will be right for us when I can trust him to stop Victoria from hurting me. Oh, wait, I already do! So, the truth is, I can't stop feeling shy around him now! Not about most things, just when I want to talk about us getting back together. It's like it's impossible for me to say 'Hey, Edward? Remember that whole thing about me figuring out who I am and who I want? Yeah, that was a load of malarkey. I know who I am, I think. And I know I want you, I'm pretty sure. Let's just make out and I'll be completely sure it's you. Maybe.' Oh, yeah, I'll sound _just _like Bella then!

Well, that's just it. I _do _know who I am, I just have doubts about whether or not I'm right. I know who I _want _to be, which is my normal, non-slutty, thorny yet nice, self! Sure, maybe my name is Isabella Marie Swan around here, but I'm still Sarah Ann Stiles inside. Apparently, Edward's meant for Sarah more than Bella, though. If I were more like Bella, I would have taken him back in a heartbeat during New Moon. Sarah, on the other hand, needs to make sure that Edward really means it this time when he says 'forever' because she's not stupid and she doesn't want to get hurt again.

Oh, God, I'm referring to myself in the third person. Plus, I sound like I have split personality disorder too! I'm losing it! Losing it, I tell you!

"Bella!" Edward suddenly yelled at me.

"What?" I yelled back. Whoops, was he talking to me while I was working through my issues in my head? Guess so.

He grabbed my shoulders and started to shake me as he talked. Damn, I missed more than I thought. "Were you listening to me? Victoria showed up at our house! Alice and Emmett were both killed!"

"_What?_"

He surprised me completely by letting go of me, rather abruptly I might add, and laughing at me. "I knew you weren't listening. Bella, I was kidding."

"WHAT?" He better thank his lucky stars that I don't have a single drop of werewolf blood in me.

He was still smiling, but at least he wasn't laughing at me anymore. "Bad joke?"

"You think?"

"Alright, you got me on that one."

Great, now I'm mad at him. "Was there a point to all of this? I'm still waiting for that message, you know."

"Well, you would've had it already if you'd have been listening to me, and not daydreaming." You know, now that I think about it, there is another reason that I haven't gotten back together with him besides the shy thing. If I'm around him for more than a minute, we start arguing like an old married couple! Which, I guess, could be a good sign that we'll have a long relationship, but he just makes me so angry!

_I wonder what she was daydreaming about. It couldn't have been me. She's probably thinking about Victoria. Perhaps I should just tell her that the message just was that today marked the beginning of the book according to the timeline she gave us._

"_WHAT_?"

"That seems to be your favorite word tonight." I was way beyond mad now to even register that.

"The all important message that you sent Alec to bring me to you was that the book started today? You don't think I know that already?" Okay, I'm freaking out! Like seriously freaking out! I just couldn't stop pacing. Maybe I'm doomed to have melt-downs for the rest of this book. "And here I thought something drastic might have happened like, oh, I don't know, Victoria attacking your house! Or that Aro decided to forcibly bring his ex-brother-in-law back to Italy along with a new human guard! Or, heck, maybe Jacob dropped by to duke it out with you to see who would win me and you could have been lying somewhere in pieces!"

Edward caught me mid-pace. Good thing too. If I kept going I would have likely started crying and pacing at the same time. "Bella, are you worried about something?" Really, Edward? Really? "Oh, well, I suppose all the aforementioned things, huh?" I just nodded. "You know I can handle myself against that mutt, right?"

"So not the biggest worry for you right now!"

"Isn't it?" Great, now he's going to guilt trip me! He thinks that I do have more than just platonic feelings for Jake. I mean, sure I call him 'Jake', but I give pretty much everyone I know nicknames! Well, maybe not. I can't think of anyone but Jacob, but that doesn't mean anything! If everyone else had easier names to use nicknames with, I would use them. But, in all seriousness, I sincerely do not feel anything beyond a brotherly bond towards Jacob. It isn't my fault that he likes me.

Okay, so it is. If I'd stayed away, he wouldn't have had a chance to like me. Alice forced me to go in the first place! "Ugh, this sucks." Edward looked at me strangely. Whoops, I just sort of thought out loud. "Sorry, working out my thoughts. But, I mean really! Jacob isn't something you should worry about above the Volturi or Victoria. Victoria could kill you and I'm sure she's working on something to kill us both with, and Aro could take me away and kill me. So, either way one of us is going to die. But, Jacob won't kill me and he wouldn't kill you if I asked him not to. So, really when you think about it he's the safest of all the big worries." Edward obviously didn't agree with me if his scrunched up forehead was any indication. I tried my best at being concerned instead of being mean to him. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Charlie's reading the newspaper."

Oh, I know why he's looking so worried. "Seattle. Is it murder capital of the world yet?"

"Close enough. We should have taken care of this already. Our delay has already cost lives and we can't hold off for much longer."

"Well, we should have probably gotten that Bree Tanner book. It would help us to figure out when it would be a good time to go to Seattle to stake out what's going on."

Edward started shaking his head vehemently. Whoa, there big boy! "There is no _us _when it comes to Seattle. _You _won't be going anywhere near there. I'm not going to let you get hurt."

I have a feeling I'm going to be able to read his mind really soon. "Edward, these are _my _plans that we're working on. I know everything that she wants to do, so I should be able to go! You can protect me while we're there!"

Holy Crap! His eyes just turned black. "Bella, you could be killed. The newborns could pick up on your scent and we'd _all _be killed."

I engaged in a poking match that would have put Alice and Jacob's to rest. "Or maybe they'll know who you are since Vicky's probably told them all about us, and they'll kill you because they can pick your foot-long hair out of a crowd!" Oh, crap, I didn't realize we were standing that close to one another. I think we've both ceased to be angry at one another. Now we're both trying not to kiss the other.

"Well, I'm sure they'll notice a pale human girl watching them with rapt attention!" Edward wasn't going to do it. He was going to wait until I kissed him. Which I just might do.

"Lovely comeback, Edward, did you come up with that all on your own?" Damn that intense gaze of his! Okay, well, maybe one little kiss won't hurt anything. I just have to lean in one more inch…

"EDWARD!"

Shit. We jumped apart twenty feet before Ava the interrupter came barreling through the forest. That's it, I'm officially changing her name to Bridezilla. She has completely lost her mind about this stupid wedding, and she's already married! "Duty calls." I wonder what she could need me for now. I mean, sure, I'm the maid of honor, but Alice has completely taken reign of everything I could have taken care of. They're _both_ insane.

Lucky for me, she didn't want me at the moment. Edward, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. "EDWARD ANTHONY MASEN CULLEN! I TOLD YOU TO HELP ANGEL PICK OUT THE TYPE OF CAKE FOR THE RECEPTION AND SUDDENLY YOU'RE HERE ALMOST KISSING BELLA!"

I turned on Edward, who was looking pretty sheepish after hearing Ava scream at him. "You totally didn't want to tell me today's the start of the book. You just wanted to get out of eating cake."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Bella."

"IS _THAT _WHY YOU'RE HERE? Edward, my wedding is in less than a month, and we still have tons of work to do. Now, you and Bella are going to get your asses to our house and PICK OUT A FREAKING CAKE ALREADY!"

Edward didn't have to be told twice. He threw me over his shoulder and took off in the direction I guess led to their house. "Wait, Edward!" I hate vampire speed! I hate it. It sucks when you're suddenly flying through the air and then even more suddenly, you stop. "If you take me back and we go in my truck, we can drive extremely slow and blame the car and get to your house a lot later than when we were going to get there and you won't have to eat as much!"

I knew that would get him. He flipped me around and kissed me lightly on my cheek. "I knew there was a reason I came back here."

Yeah…well, there goes my heart again.

* * *

**There you go! so, I'm still being a little hush-hush about what marcus and alec's true mission is in forks...hmmmmm...i wonder what it could be! alright, i'm being evil now so i'm' going to go...and you should go review for me! please...:)**

_**Preview for the next chapter:**_

"You're ridiculous, but it comes in handy today. I need you to get a message to all the pack right away. You know how I know all the stuff that's going to happen? Well, this weekend Victoria's coming to town and there might be a fight between Paul and Emmett if we can't work everything out beforehand. I need you to convince Sam to meet with me and the Cullens at their baseball field, okay? Like pronto. We have to work out some sort of plan and we have to do it tonight."

Seth was way too eager to jump out of his window. I pretty sure he might just do it for the fun of it soon. "Sure sure! But, why didn't you get Jacob to do this for you? He's the beta, you know."

Why are all the men in this house so freaking obsessed with Jacob?


	3. Chapter 2

***Disclaimer! chello, everyone! sorry i've been a bit slow on the updates, but summer reading has been dragging me down and school starts next week :( but, i've got a couple of chapters saved and all i have to do is edit them a bit. Things are going to get pretty freaking epic if i do say so...so without further ado...**

**here's the mysterious person with victoria! (any guesses yet?) and then the real chapter! and then goooooo reviewwww! :) **

* * *

He never knew how good kissers red-heads were until he met her. She was almost good enough to make him forget about why he was out in the woods. "Victoria, take me with you." She stopped immediately.

"Tell me about the Cullens."

"Take me with you."

"Tell me about the Cullens."

"I don't know anything about them other than what I see at school. We don't talk that often."

He didn't see it, but Victoria was _this _close to snapping his twig neck. But, she reigned herself in. She knew what she could make him do. "Find out _more_. Then you can come with me."

* * *

**I Hate Evasions**

Remind me to never go to the Cullen house again. Until Angel and Ava leave for their honeymoon, I will not be making any appearances in that house.

Not only was I stuffed to the brim with all flavors of cake, I was also stuffed into a bridesmaid dress that now has to be taken out because of the multitudes of cake I ate. Talk about a hit to your self-confidence! But, while I was there, I couldn't seem to get away from Marcus fast enough whenever he came close enough to try to talk to me again. I probably could have worked off the cake had Alice not forced me to try ten different entrées as well. I can see why Edward made up a phony message to get me to come over. I would want out of that loony bin too if I lived there. But, I don't yet.

Thank God.

So, I went home with a stomach-ache and four more pieces of cake to pawn off to Seth, Leah, Uncle Charlie, and Sue. They agreed that the chocolate should be served at the wedding, which, after twenty different slices of cake, I don't think I'll be eating ever again.

I couldn't even eat regular food the next day at school during lunch. I was still stuffed, so I just made my way with a water bottle. All of the seniors were pacing around the different tables to buy the things we needed for graduation: class rings, yearbooks, and even the hideous gowns for the actual ceremony. Plus, a couple of people were buying prom tickets. I actually wanted to go, but everyone was so busy with the wedding plans that I was vetoed. Well, not completely. Alec told me he would accompany me to the "town ball", but as soon as he said that I told him not to worry. He would have his fair share of proms to go to if Britney has her way with him soon enough.

"So, have you sent your announcements, yet?" Angela asked me at lunch. I felt so bad for her. The poor girl _did _need help. She had about eighty cards she had to hand make out. If that were me, I would be making Ben do a lot more than he is. All he's doing now is reading a comic book while his girlfriend slaves away! What was worse was that the guy born back when chivalry was still very important, aka my ex-boyfriend, was reading the comic _with_ Ben. It's times like these when I really do love being single.

"I didn't want to get carpal tunnel before I was well into my fifties, so I just called my relatives. My parents are bringing my grandma with them when they come, so I'm covered. Maybe you should call some of those people. Your mom would never know."

"That sounds like a great plan! I think I'm going to have to do that. I'm sure my mom actually wants me to be able to write again someday."

"Definitely. But, if she doesn't go for it, I can always come to your house to help you now that I'm officially not grounded anymore!" Well, that's a good as anything way to break it.

"NO WAY! Yay, now you can go to senior prom with all of us this weekend!"

My smile faltered just a little. "Actually, I don't know if I can go to prom. I have a couple of tickets to go visit my parents that Mr. and Mrs. Cullen gave me for my birthday last October, so I thought I should use them before they expired. But, you can tell me all about the prom when I get back. I'm sure Ben has something _very _romantic planned for you guys." It's so sad that Ben didn't even perk up when I said his name. Men are hopeless.

Alice was suddenly intrigued with the conversation. "Oh, you _are _going home this weekend?"

"Well, I _was_, but if there _something _going on this weekend _here, _maybe I'll stay here." I had an iron-clad promise from the Cullens that I would be kept entirely within the loop about any and all things Victoria. If Alice started to lie to me, I would not be happy at all. I don't care _how _freaking busy they were with the wedding. They are telling me everything.

"I haven't seen or heard anything that sounds like it would even be remotely fun. It's just more planning for the wedding for me. But maybe once you get back we can…" I wasn't really paying attention to Alice before, but when her voice trailed off I could guess what was happening.

"Alice? Alice!" Angela and I both yelled at her at the same time, but she looked more curious about our maybe plans and I was worried about what she saw.

"Is it naptime already, Alice?" Edward laughed at her.

"Naptime?" Ava finally sat down with us. She looked curious as well, but I could tell she was on edge too. It might have just been the stress about all of her wedding plans, but I doubt that. All of the Cullens were on edge now because Eclipse had started, which means that the hunt for Victoria has started as well.

Alice looked particularly worried for a second, but smiled before Angela could pick up on it. "Sorry, I was daydreaming, I guess. So, guess what everyone? I've decided to throw a party." Well, it was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to get her attention after that little announcement. Everyone, even Lauren and Jessica from the other table, came to receive their invitations to the Cullen's graduation party. Apparently, their house was something of a legend. Even Mike Newton looked enthused about getting an invite. I wonder if he'll take Jessica as a date or something.

Never mind, I don't want to know.

The rest of the day was filled with moments of me almost catching Alice or Edward in the hallway, but never quite getting them. Ava, on the other hand, was just as in the dark about Alice's epic vision as I was. "I hate being out of the freaking loop!" I complained to her as we were walking out of school. Edward was already by his car talking to Mike Newton about his car, I guess. He better tell me about that vision or I swear I will beat him up from here to Seattle.

"You're telling me. I want to know which one of us won valedictorian now!" Okay, actually I forgot to tell her about that one. I sort of got an e-mail from the principal yesterday about it, and, well, I sort of won. Yay me! I just haven't had the guts to tell her. He told me in the e-mail that the other people up for it would receive their rejection e-mails later.

"Right…I can't wait. So, do you think Victoria's coming this weekend?"

For a second, I thought Ava might crush the binders she was holding. "If she does…I'll be the one to rip her head off. That bitch is going to pay for what James did to me and for what she did to my car!"

"Your car?"

"She's the one that made me run off the road back home! If she hadn't I could have made it to your house before James could have gotten to either of us." Whoa, Ava's on the hunt for Vicky. Well, at least I know she'll be handy if we have to fight her. She'll have her down within seconds.

We had to cut our conversation short since we reached where Mike and Edward were talking about cars still. "…but I just replaced the battery." Mike looked freaked out by Edward talking to him. I was pretty freaked out myself. I thought Edward would have avoided that conversation since it was in the book!

"Perhaps it's the cables?"

"Maybe. I really don't know anything about cars. I need to have someone look at it, but I can't afford to take it to Dowling's."

"I know a few things—I could take a look, if you like. Just let me drop the girls off at home."

"Edward, you know as well as I do that you suck at cars. If you want someone good you should ask Rosalie to help you, Mike. Or, well, you should ask her when she comes home for summer vacation since she's at college and everything." I had to interrupt. This was too strange for me to even comprehend.

"Er…right. I'll talk to you guys later." Mike mumbled and ran off to his car.

I turned on Edward as soon as Mike was out of earshot. "What the hell, Edward? Alice had some huge vision about Victoria coming into town this weekend and you went and avoided me all day?"

"I should have warned you that she'd be mad, Edward." Alice skipped in beside me. "Just ask her if she wants to get out of town this weekend already. It'll make her angrier, but you should just get it over with instead of making Charlie mad about it too." Well, there you go. Alice is right. He should just get it over with. I mean, I do need to use those tickets, but I want to be asked to go, not forced like in the book!

Edward got that frustrated look he's gotten lately whenever we talk about anything to do with Victoria. "Bella, do you have any plans for this weekend?" He asked through clenched teeth. If he wants to fight, he can bring it.

"As a matter of fact, I was thinking about going to visit my parents. That is, unless an evil vampire is going to be in town and everyone in your family are going to go chase her around the woods. If that's the case, I'm going home and finding Seth and getting him to help me drag the rest of the werewolves to some sort of meeting place and all of you are going to strategize on how to catch said evil vampire." Everyone's eyes were on mine, but I didn't break my glare with Edward. He didn't appear to be angry, but there was something under the surface that I was missing.

Eventually, he broke the silence, but with something that made everyone go into shock for about twenty minutes. "Where should we meet them?"

Ava looked completely thrown. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I think Bella has a valid point and we could avoid a fight between Paul and Emmett if we work together ahead of time." This is true. Not that it wouldn't be freaking hilarious to watch Emmett get into a fight, I just would like to be the one he's fighting. Plus, I warned him after he finished reading the book that if he did something stupid like that I would beat him up the second I woke up as a vampire. I totally scared the crap out of him.

I was still a little thrown, but I had to be thorough. "So, where should I meet you?"

"Call us and we'll find you." Edward got into his car without one of those fleeting looks that I love when he does so much. Okay, how did he go from almost kissing me yesterday to being all business today? Maybe he heard that I won valedictorian in the principal's mind and he's mad I haven't told Ava yet, but surely Alice knows too so that can't be it.

I would have thought Alice to be upset about having to deal with the wolves, but she was grinning as she got into the Volvo. "Alice, what are you so happy about?"

Her grin got wider when she saw that I was really confused. "Oh, Bella, if I told you now it would ruin the surprise. Hurry up with the wolves, will you? I want to get them out of the way." Alice has ceased to be helpful.

"Okay…fine." Wow, that was shockingly easy. Unexpectedly so. I thought Edward would put up a fight so loud and forceful that I would have to get Emmett and Angel to hold him down before he actually listened to me, but I know there was something he was thinking about. Something that made him shut off his more…jealous side…that I thought would come out when I talked about getting help from Jacob. And, you know, I bet whatever it was Edward was thinking about, Alice was thinking about the same thing. I think I smell a rat.

And Alice knows something about that rat.

I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was going on by the time I got home and barged into Seth's room. I knew he would be home by now, so I didn't feel like it was an intrusion if I didn't knock before entering. Besides, he barged into my room all the time. "Bella! What are you doing in here?" I caught him with half of his body out of his window. Looks like someone was trying to make a break for it.

"What's up, Seth? Going somewhere?"

"Oh, you know, just the usual patrolling and running. Sam's got some of us running double duty on that stuff because of that red-head that's after you."

"I thought Sam ordered you to stay home and study."

Seth blanched at the thought. "Yeah, well, he didn't tell me what I had to do _after _I finished studying."

I rolled my eyes at his eagerness, but at the same time I commended him for his brilliant way to go around Sam's order. I love it when Seth outsmarts Sam. "You're ridiculous, but it comes in handy today. I need you to get a message to all the pack right away. You know how I know all the stuff that's going to happen? Well, this weekend Victoria's coming to town and there might be a fight between Paul and Emmett if we can't work everything out beforehand. I need you to convince Sam to meet with me and the Cullens at their baseball field, okay? Like pronto. We have to work out some sort of plan and we have to do it tonight."

Seth was way too eager to jump out of his window. I pretty sure he might just do it for the fun of it soon. "Sure sure! But, why didn't you get Jacob to do this for you? He's the beta, you know."

Why are all the men in this house so freaking obsessed with Jacob? "Yeah, I know, but Jacob's not speaking to me at the moment. Plus, I like you better. So, can you go now, please?" I threw him a smile just so he wouldn't try asking me about why Jacob wasn't speaking to me. He should know, though, unless Jacob isn't thinking about me which would be really good. For him, I mean. If he's not thinking about me that means he doesn't love me which means I'm off the hook with trying to figure out what I'm going to do about him!

"Yeah, I'll go, but you have to promise something to do something for me in return."

This'll be good. "Such as?"

"You have to talk to Jacob while we're there. He won't stop thinking about you and you know when we're wolves we can hear each other's thoughts, so we all have to hear it _all the time_. It's kind of annoying." Damn it. "I tried telling him that you and Edward were still into each other, but Edward told me not to say that when I saw him outside the last night."

"WAIT A MINUTE! Edward told you _not _to say that he and I were—well, that we're not—" Oh, my God. Edward doesn't like me anymore! That's why he was so distant today at school. I waited too long to get back together with him and now he doesn't love me at all anymore! Oh, dear God I think I'm going to have a stroke. "Well, I suppose he didn't want to say anything about that so he could make Jacob feel better. You know, he's really trying to be good about that. None of that big rivalry between them over me because it's childish really when you think about it…" Yep, I'm definitely having a stroke. "But to say that there wasn't _anything _going on between us! Is he trying to make me go insane? Of course I love him and I thought he still loved me, but if I was wrong I think I might just—"

"Yeah, Bella, I think I'll go now."

"BUT, WAIT A MINUTE, WHY WAS HE HERE LAST NIGHT? WHY THE HELL IS HE STILL HANGING AROUND HERE AT NIGHT WATCHING ME SLEEP LIKE THE CREEPER-SLASH-STALKER HE IS?"

"I'm just gonna go now."

"So, he doesn't love me but he still enjoys stalking me as a pastime. How does this make any sort of logical sense at all? I mean, there has to be some sort of love involved if he still takes enjoyment in listening to my nighttime babble, which must consist of me saying his name or Jacob's name since that's all I've been freaking dreaming about for a month!" Wow, I can sure scream. I wonder how Seth is taking all of this new information spouting randomly from my mouth. "Seth? Seth, where the hell are you?" The little twerp left!

On second thought, this is a good thing. He's gone which means I can go to the Cullens' house and get them to the baseball field and I can obsess over Edward possibly not loving me anymore while I'm there.

God, and now I have to write a valedictorian speech! And tell my best friend that I beat her for the spot! Well, at least things can't get any worse.

* * *

"So, it's agreed. You'll try as best you can to push her into our territory and we'll finish her off. If she gets past us, then you will temporarily allow Emmett, Ava, and Jasper to cross into your territory and into the ocean to chase after her. Shall we shake on it?" Carlisle stuck his hand out for Sam to 'shake' his paw with. Pretty much all the wolves showed up in their wolf form because they didn't trust the Cullens. Stupid mutts. I figured they wouldn't show up in their glorious shirtless forms, but I was still slightly disappointed when Jacob didn't even come. It was just Sam, Paul, Jared, and Seth.

Then again, it was just me, Jasper, Alice, Carlisle, and Edward that came to represent the Cullens. This is so stupid. I don't understand why the wolves and the rest of the Cullens are so ridiculously stubborn about being around one another. Although, I bet Jacob didn't come just to make me angry. The one good thing about him not coming was that I got to throw Seth the _ha ha you can't make me talk to him because he's not here_ look.

"He's not going to shake your hand, Carlisle, but he agrees to everything you said." Okay, Edward obviously did not want to be here. Carlisle probably just forced him to come because he could tell what the wolves were all thinking. Luckily for me, despite my new power to sometimes read other people's minds, he still can't read mine. Which means he couldn't hear me think about whether or not he loves me. Yay, my non-readable mind!

Alice started tapping her foot. "Can we leave now? I still have to choose a china pattern tonight before Ava chooses herself, and the last time I did that she ended up in Vegas."

"God forbid they should do that _again._" I muttered. I wish they would just run off to Vegas again. It was the single most hilarious day in the entire history of the world when Alice got the note from Angel and Ava that they had eloped. I, being Ava's best and most trusted friend, already knew before Alice had gotten the note what they'd done. Ava's power even worked to block out Alice's vision of them leaving. I thought their plan was amazing, and I had wanted to use it for my own purposes when the time came for me and Edward, but I guess that's just not going to happen. He hasn't even acknowledged that I was here!

The big jerk! How could he not care about me after being caught almost _kissing _just one freaking day ago? Oh, my God, I think I'm going to cry. Or try being the hulk again. I think I'll go rip something up once I finish crying!

"Bella?" Huh, what? Oh, crap, I forgot about Jasper. Maybe Edward can't read my mind when I'm thinking about him, but Jasper can pretty much tell what my thoughts are since he can pick up on my feelings. "Are you okay?"

Cover it up. Cover it up! Think of kittens…and puppies…and wolf pups! Crap it! Wolves! Jacob! Triangle! Edward doesn't love me! Jacob's going to win! But I don't want him to win! I want Edward to win, but he doesn't like me! Oh, good God, I suck at this. "I'm perfectly…okay."

"No, you're not." Damn, he isn't going to let this go.

What should I do? "Alice!" He can't call me out on anything if he can't talk to me. "Hey, so since I agreed I would go out of town this weekend, do you want to use the companion ticket? I didn't know who else to ask so…"

"Oh, Bella! I would _love _to go with you. Your mom and I got along so well last time, but you know how much of a rush we're in with Ava's wedding. I simply couldn't leave her alone with everything's that needs to be done." She's got that evil glint in her eyes that she did today in the parking lot. She is totally planning something and I desperately want to know what it is. "Plus, someone has to console poor Ava when she gets that rejection e-mail from the principal. You haven't gotten an e-mail from him yet, have you?" I could totally slap her right now if I didn't value what little safety I had. And I had come over here to save myself from Jasper! "It would be a shame for her to learn that her best friend since forever didn't tell her that she had lost to said best friend."

Crap it! "You wouldn't."

Alice Cullen is a wicked, evil little vampire! She grinned at me. "You know, I think Edward's free this weekend, aren't you?" She whipped around to Edward, who was only a few paces away from us. From the looks of everything, I guess the wolves took off a few minutes ago. That means Edward probably heard everything.

"Bella, you're valedictorian?" Yep, he heard everything.

I just shrugged it off like it's not a big deal. "Yeah, I just got the news a few days ago. Go me!" Oh, so _now _he's talking to me? Nice one, Eddie.

"Congratulations, I knew you would win." He smiled at me, but I can definitely tell there's still something he's not telling me. There's something shifty about the way he won't exactly look me in the eye. He sends a worried look towards Alice, and all my suspicions just spiked through the roof. Whatever it is that has Alice so jazzed is the same thing that has Edward acting like a total goon.

"Thanks." I'm so going to bust them. I just don't know what I'm busting them for. Maybe I could get Alec to spy on them for me in exchange for a ticket for Britney to come here. Wait, I don't have any money. Crap. Well, maybe I could just go and ask them what's going on because, after all, honesty is the best policy, right? Aw, hell. Who am I kidding? I should just force the answer out of them with Ava's help because she would be on my side, of course.

But my side of _what_? God, I am so confused.

Jasper made us all jump by having a random hissy fit. "Alright, Bella, there is something sincerely wrong with you right now. You are all over the place! You just went from angry to suspicious to angry again to elated to confused. And now you're all startled, but I'm guessing that's because of me." Whoops, did the collective glare from me, Edward, and Alice make Jasper shut the heck up over my apparent mental issues? Well, damn.

"I'm fine, Jasper. Really, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Whatever you say, Bella. You probably shouldn't keep those feelings bottled up."

"Shut up, Jasper!" I muttered.

Carlisle thankfully broke up the party. I couldn't even run away from them. They would all have caught up with me too quickly. "Come on, guys. Stop berating Bella. She's done quite a lot for us and we've even got a bit of a truce with the wolves because of her. I think she deserves a little slack." He drew me away from the others and we walked back towards Emmett's borrowed Jeep. I guess I would have to face Edward again since he was the one who drove the Jeep here and I needed a ride back.

"Thanks for the save, Carlisle. I thought I had been thrown to the wolves for a second."

Carlisle chucked at my obvious joke. "No problem, Bella. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I thought I caught you saying something about going out of town this weekend. Are you planning on finally using the tickets that Esme and I bought for your birthday?"

"Yeah, that's what happened in the book. I didn't want to be in your way while everyone's trying to hunt Victoria. I'd sort of be in the way."

"Bella, you could never be in the way. You'd be a valuable asset for us."

"Thanks, but you know that's not true. I'd be holding everyone back because they'd be worried Victoria could somehow come after me if I'm alone. Plus, I have to work on my speech for graduation and tell my parents the good news."

"Of course." Oh, thank God. I thought for a second, Carlisle might say something about telling Ava like Alice had. But, of course, that's ridiculous because he's the compassionate one. "Well, who are you going to take with you?" I froze. "The companion ticket was actually for Edward originally, but if you'd rather not take him, I'm sure someone else would love to go with you."

Edward was suddenly right next to me. "No, I'm going with her. Alice tells me I'd just be in the way as well. We might as well be out of the way together."

I'm turning into a skeptic. It must be because I'm under so much stress. "Um, yeah…sure. That sounds…great."

Edward seems marginally happier whenever he's not around Alice. God, what is that little pixie planning? "What? You don't think your parents will be happy to see me?"

"Oh, no! I'm sure my mom will be thrilled that we're there…together. On the other hand, my dad's still pretty pissed that you left and broke my heart back around my birthday, but he'll probably keep a happy face on." I know I'm sure as hell going to have to.

Crap it, I've made Edward retreat into that brooding place of his that he must have made while he was gone. "I didn't realize your parents knew about everything that happened."

"They don't. They just know that you left, I had to save you from something a few months later, and we're still broken up despite all of that. But, I suppose, if you come with me my mom is going to think that we're back together." Oh, well! I can live with that! If I didn't have such great self-control, I would be smiling from cheek to cheek right now, but I've watched the Twilight movies too many times and I can imitate Kristen Stewart to a tee now.

"I see. Well, we'll just have to show her through our actions that we're obviously not together."

"Right because we're not. Together, that is."

"Unless you want to be."

"I don't." God, I am such a liar. I wonder if vampires can tell when people are lying.

"And I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do." I guess not.

"It's not like I wouldn't _want_ to be your girlfriend again, it's just that I don't think I'm ready and there's still the whole thing with me trying to figure out exactly who it is I am, and the whole thing with Victoria is more important than just you or me right now."

Edward nodded and started in his business voice again. "Of course. She's killing innocent people, and we have to put a stop to that."

Well, if he's going to be business-y, then I will be too. "Right. But say the rest of your family actually catches her this weekend…I might, you know, be available—" Okay, so I lied about being business-y. I just can't help but think if Victoria got caught this weekend, everything would be great. I could focus on school, and then focus on my romantic issues.

"For a date?" I swear, he _can _read my mind. He's totally been lying about it since we met.

Oh, God, I'm blushing so freaking hard right now. "Or just, you know, a friendly study thing that's like a date because, you know, I'm really busy now with all of my college stuff and now I have to write the speech for graduation and I really have no earthly idea what to say, so maybe you could help me with that since you've been to like eighty gazillion graduations. You must have some good ideas after hearing so many speeches."

Damn it, he's totally laughing at me. I can tell. Those golden eyes are sparkling with amusement which, of course, makes me blush even harder. "Of course. I'd love to help you. I'm sure Ava will want to help you too."

Double damn it. "Yeah, I really need to tell her about that."

"As they say, there's no time like the present." Alright, now he's just plain making fun of me.

"That's funny coming from an immortal _vampire_." Edward's laugh is so not helping with the whole blushing thing. God, it's like we're back at the very beginning of everything. Although, I doubt I ever blushed this much when I was still pretending that I didn't know Edward was a vampire.

"Come on. Ava won't hurt you. She'll be a little upset, but she'll probably be relieved that she'll have more time to work on her wedding this way. But, if it makes you feel any better, I'll protect you no matter what."

Triple damn it. I think my heart just gave out when he said that. Why does he have to do this to me? I really do need to be a vampire soon or he's going to kill me anyway!

"Okay, if you promise you'll be close enough just in case she attacks me."

He laughed again, and at the same time, brushed away a stray hair that had fallen into my face during my epic blush-fest. "I'll always be here for you."

Great. Thanks for that, Edward. It was sweet, but now I'm not going to be getting _any _sleep this entire weekend.

Let's take a look at my checklist: Tell best friend that you beat her for valedictorian of the first high school that either of you will ever graduate from, write speech for graduation because of being the valedictorian, figure out what Alice is planning, get the truth about what Alice is planning and how it relates to Edward _from _Edward while on the five hour plane rides, figure out what to tell Marcus, get Britney to leave me alone and talk to Alec more, lose the five pounds of cake weight to fit into bridesmaid dress, and pray that the Cullens catch Victoria this weekend so I don't have to deal with her anymore.

It's no wonder that Jasper thinks I'm going insane!

* * *

**Poor Jasper, he'll never understand the turmoil that goes on in Bella's head...anywhoooo! gooooo reviewww! **

_**Preview for the next chapter:**_

Deep breath. "Okay, I can do this. I'm just going to go in there and be mature about it. I'll be calm and cavalier and act like it doesn't bother me at all." Ha, like that's actually going to work.

"Good, that's perfect. It'll drive him up the wall, and it'll provide great entertainment for me."

I'm choosing to ignore that. "I can do this. I can do this. _I can do this_."

"I'm glad you think so, because here comes the double whammy."


	4. Chapter 3

**Hiya! sorry ive been updating really slowly, the IB program has officially taken over my life...and I'm trying to make things last a little while just to amp up some suspense! :) **

**so, the tension is starting to mount in Forks, and secrets and stress are just mounting up for Bella! I don't know what she's going to do if she doesn't get out soon (hint, hint) and maybe get some of her sexual tension between her and Edward out as well (hint, hint) so watch out for the next chapters! things are gonna get dicey! **

**and, if you like this chapter (or if you don't) be sure to review for me! :) enjoy! Oh, and don't forget about guessing who the mysterious person with victoria is! ! ! ! **

* * *

Every night he could only hope that Victoria would somehow stumble upon him. She told him before why they could never plan their meetings. He always thought that Alice was the strangest one of the Cullens, but he could have never guessed that she was a psychic. For that matter, he could hardly believe that Edward could read minds. One more thing about him to hate.

Luckily for him, Victoria came across his scent just then. He started spewing information before she could greet him. "I overheard them talking about something with wolves. I don't know what that means, but that's what I heard. Oh, and there was going to be a fight between two guys. Someone named Paul and Emmett Cullen are going to fight."

"I see."

"So, will you take me with you now?"

"I still need more! Now, baby, you need to be careful this weekend. Go to that silly little dance with the rest of your friends. There's going to be too much going on in the woods to meet me. Try sometime after the weekend. I don't want you getting hurt." _Or found out_.

* * *

**I So Do Not Understand These Motives**

I can't believe it.

I still can't freaking believe it.

It's not real. This is a dream. No, scratch that. It's a nightmare. A horrible, scream-worthy nightmare.

And, trust me, I've been screaming quite a bit.

I'm thinking of making it my new favorite pastime. Well, that and slapping mythical creatures. That's always fun. And now that I think about it, I think one or more of them definitely need a slap for this.

Take Edward, for example.

I should have slapped the lying butthead when we got back. The second that bitch jumped into his arms, he should have gotten a facial high five from me.

I shouldn't have run away. That was mistake number one.

Wait a minute. Obviously, that _wasn't _mistake number one. It was probably like mistake number one hundred thousand million. Otherwise all of _this _probably wouldn't have happened.

And everything had been going so well!

My parents even thought Edward and I were back together. Heck, in the deep recesses of my twisted mind, I had almost begun to think that we were back together. At least I did the first night we were back. We went out for dinner and a movie with my parents. We were going to visit my grandmother, but I didn't want her to attack Edward just in case she figured out he was a vampire. So, instead, Edward and I grinned and acted like the most non-couplely couple on the planet.

But, there was just something plain off about everything. Don't get me wrong, I was happy just to have Edward around, but I could still see that there was something on his mind. Unluckily for me, my new mind reading abilities weren't in sync. The only clues I had were his actions.

He was just too precise with his movements around me like this was the last time we were ever going to be around one another. He kept his arm around my waist the entire time we were with my parents, which made me slightly giddy and confused at the same time. He wouldn't usually do something like that in front of my father if he wanted to have that arm the next day.

I had needed some motherly advice and I needed it stat. I just had to wait until she brought him up because there was no way I would do it myself.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah, mom?" She and I were lying out on our patio in the backyard trying to soak in some sun before it was supposed to rain the next day when we had to leave when she _finally _brought him up. She hadn't grilled me about Edward at all the whole weekend, which was surprising to both me and Edward. He had expected her to jump on me about our relationship the day we got there. He told me her mind was full of questions about him, but she was trying to be polite about us.

"Honey, is there something going on between you and Ethan?"

Thank God! I knew it was going to come eventually, but I didn't expect her to wait this long. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just, I've been watching you and him together. There's something different about you two now. Now, before you go telling me that I'm just imagining things, I want you to know that if there _is_ a problem between you two, you should just tell me and I can help in any way I can."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I hate lying to my mom, but I felt it was my obligation to at least try to lie simply because it's the teenage way.

She knew I was lying, too. "Honey, you remember when your father and I were in Forks for your uncle's wedding?"

Where is she going with this? "Yeah…it wasn't that long ago."

"That's my point. When we were there, Ethan and you couldn't seem to get your hands off of one another, and, on the off chance that you two were apart, you would move around the room like magnets. He moved, you moved. You moved, he moved. It was strange at first, but I got used to the idea that you and this boy really were head over heels for each other." I started to say that he still was, but she wouldn't let me interrupt. "You two still do that, only there's a sort of hesitation. Like you're both too afraid to come close to one another that you'll explode or something."

I hate it when she's this on it. I hate that Stephanie Meyer wrote Bella's mom as such an observant person and it made my mom even more so than she already was. "It pretty much feels that way." I muttered.

"I heard that." She grinned at me. "Sarah, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Of course, Mom, it's just…" Oh, God, I'm going to cry right here in front of my mother. Thank goodness Dad took Edward out to another one of my uncle's house to watch some sort of basketball game. I didn't need him to hear me cry over him _again_.

"Sweetie, is this about when you two broke up?"

"Well…yeah…" I sniffled again.

"Have you two been getting along since he got back? Or is that where the hesitation is coming from?"

God, how does she do it? "God, Mom! Do you have to read my mind about everything? Well, here's the thing: I hesitate around him now because I don't trust him anymore. The bastard," I forgot how she doesn't like it when I curse, "Sorry, butthead, left me brokenhearted back in Forks and then he came back and just expected that everything was forgiven! I couldn't bring myself to forgive him so easily, but I still love him, Mommy!" She pulled me into a hug, which of course made me really start crying. I was on a roll now. "Tell me what I should do."

I'm surprised she didn't do a little song and dance about being to drag my inner-most secrets out. "Oh, honey, you have to do what's right for you. Trust can't be bought, it has to be earned. When you feel that you trust him again, then maybe you can give him another chance. But, if he blows it again, he's not worthy of my baby girl." I wish he could have heard that. My mom will beat his ass if he ever does this to me again. "He's no Edward Cullen, is he?"

It was a completely normal statement for her to say. We both read the books. She loved them as much as I did. She knew how madly in love with Edward I was even before I met the real one.

"No, that's the thing. He _is_." I decided something at that moment that would again change our lives, hopefully for the better.

"Mom, I really need to tell you something and I should have told you when I moved to Forks. Well, actually I did tell you but you didn't entirely believe me because, believe me, it sounds completely ridiculous, but it's all true. Everything I'm about to tell you is one hundred percent truth. And, don't interrupt me while I tell you this because it's a long freaking story."

* * *

I couldn't even _think_ about what the Cullen's would think about me telling my mom after what happened when Edward and I arrived at the airport.

Lucky for me, Mom took everything pretty well. She was a little concerned that I had been bitten by a vampire already, but she got over that when I told her about Ava. That was a bit rough to talk about. I had to make her swear not to tell anything about it to Ava's parents or anyone else for that matter. But, now she's decided to bring Ava's parents to her wedding after Victoria's taken care of.

I didn't quite tell Mom everything. I didn't want to talk about what happened in Volterra other than just the book and movie stuff. She didn't need to know that I'd pretty much pledged allegiance to Aro while I was there. She also didn't need to know that Marcus was currently in Forks on a mission that involved me.

Something that she didn't help me at all with that I was desperate for some sort of advice on was Jacob. Her only contribution was "Well, don't hurt him like you did in the book…or Bella…or whatever. He seems like a very nice boy with very nice muscles. Is he really that toned?" You can probably tell how that conversation went on from then on in.

But, something my mom and I did work out was what I was going to do about Edward.

She had to question how different he was from the books, and all things considering, he isn't that much different. The only difference now is that he knows about the books. She thought that he and I should go out on a date or something small like that. "Take it slowly, see how things progress."

This is when things took a turn for the crappy.

So, I was about to ask him if he wanted to go somewhere to talk and…well, just talk, as we drove back to Forks together in the airport when we were assaulted by a white blur with strawberry blonde hair on top. I say _we _were assaulted, but I meant Edward was physically assaulted while I was psychologically assaulted by one damn blur.

"Edward! I've missed you!" I heard her coo to him. Once I figured out it was a woman practically on top of Edward, well, let's just say my mother would have been shocked to hear some of the things that came out of my mouth. And once I figured out exactly who that _woman _was, well, it was a lot worse.

I didn't say anything which we were actually at the airport. I waited to vent my shock until I was alone in my room. I'm pretty sure that the entire town could hear me. Actually, I bet Jacob could even hear me.

I bet my parents in Kentucky could hear me. I bet even Aro could hear me and suddenly thought "That scream sounded oddly familiar. Oh well, I must go ruin the lives of everyone around me! Oh no! This momentary pause at the sound of the scream put me behind. Now I'll have to send Felix out to pick up some puppies and kittens and other small animals for me to blow up for my entertainment tonight. You know, I should really be nice to everyone instead of being a complete and total ass. I think I'll let that poor Bella Swan girl with the identity crisis just stay with the people she loves instead of forcing her to work for me for one hundred years of agony and torment because of the fact that she did it for a man that she has unsure feelings about due to the fact that she cannot trust anyone other than herself…"

Okay, so maybe Aro wouldn't have gone on for that long. And there's no way he'll ever let me out of that stupid deal. Thinking this, of course, made me scream even louder.

Thank God everyone else was out of the house at that point.

Yesterday was just messy. And it doesn't look like today is going to be much better.

Ava and I were sitting in my car since we drove together to school today. I had had to tell her about my mom knowing everything since Alice forced me to the night before. Thankfully, she had blocked Edward's thoughts before her rampage (a lucky trick that I also taught Mom before Edward could get any idea of what I told her). I didn't tell them everything that my mom and I discussed because I didn't really want to admit that I was going to ask Edward out after his little show at the airport. The humiliation was too big even for me to face.

Ava stayed the night so we could have a more one on one chat about everything after Alice left. Actually, I kicked Alice out because she wouldn't give me _any _information about why _it _was here. Nothing. Nada. Not even what kind of suitcase _it_ brought, which is very important because it signifies how long _it _plans to stay.

Plus, from the looks of things Ava was going to have to force me into school today. As of now, I can't move. I just can't bring myself to get out of the car and face Edward and _it_.

"Bella, you haven't said a thing since last night. I think I know what's bothering you."

This is actually not the first thing I've said since yesterday. I said quite a few things yesterday that would make censors cry, but only when I was alone.

"Really? You know what's bothering me? Please, enlighten me."

"You're worried that I'm upset that you beat me for valedictorian, but, truth be told, I'm really extremely happy for you. You're probably also worried that I'm mad about you telling your mom that I'm still alive and that she can't tell anyone, not even _my_ parents, but I'm not! I'm a little confused as to why you told her and refuse to tell Edward that you told her, but I'm not mad. I'm still your best friend, okay?"

Well, she was right. Those were some things I was worried about, but not the big one. "Thanks, I feel _loads_ better."

"Oh, come on. You look like you're about to shoot a puppy."

An interesting idea. "Do you have a gun?" Heck, screw the puppy. I'm going right after the man I love.

No, I don't love him.

Not anymore.

Not after this.

This is just so wrong on so many levels! But, I still can't seem to get the damn butterflies in my stomach to settle down whenever I think of him.

Did I say that out loud? Whoops! Ava grabbed my hands and made me listen very closely. "Bella, I'm telling you this because I care. Don't let Edward know about this. You _can't _let him know about your little episode about him and her, or they win. You've got make him so sorry that he's with her and it'll all be over. She'll be out of here before you can say 'Twilight' and he'll be down on his knees begging you to forgive him."

This is why I love her. She's already been through stuff like this with past boyfriends and knows exactly what to do. "But is he even _with _her? She could just be here for a visit, right?"

Apparently Ava is just as much in the dark about the nature of _its _arrival as I am. "I have no freaking idea! From what Emmett told me, she just showed up this weekend while they were out and about and asked to go with them when everyone went to get you from the airport."

A small bubble of hope rose inside of me. "So, is there a possibility that they aren't, in fact, together?"

"I wouldn't be so sure, Bells." Well, the bubble just popped. "This chick means business. I didn't want to tell you this, but I think she slept with him last night." Scratch that, the bubble shattered, leaving tiny painful piece of bubble in my chest, my brain, and every other vital organ inside of me.

Oh, _hell_ _no_! "WHAT? ARE YOU EVEN KIDDING ME? HE LOST HIS VIRGINITY TO _THAT?_!HOLY CRAP! I'LL BEAT BOTH THEIR ASSES!" Wow, I didn't know it was possible for the entire world to turn red.

Just as quickly, the world snapped back into its normal grey color. Ava had to physically restrain me from leaping out of the car to rip _its _head off. "WHOA THERE, BELLA! I didn't mean like _that! _That's just nasty! I just meant they were in the same room last night. Well, now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have said they _slept _together since we can't sleep."

Ava and I really need to work on her definition of 'sleep together'. "Oh, my God, Ava, I think I just had a heart attack. So, what you're saying is that they were in the same room all last night, right? Well, couldn't you hear what was going on in there?"

She looked down, bashful. "Well, Angel and I were kind of—"

"Never mind! I get it." Gross to the power of ten!

If I weren't so worried about Edward suddenly having _sex _with someone who is not me, I would kick her out of my car. I was silent for a while until I actually thought of something that I desperately needed her opinion about that I haven't actually heard. "Ava, do you think I should I take him back?"

Whoa, she actually almost did a flip in my car! "ARE YOU EVEN FREAKING KIDDING ME? HELL, YES! Sarah, this is _your _guy. He's _your _soul mate. _Yours_! You need to fight for him. He's just blinded by grief over the fact that you dumped him. He's trying to get over you, but it's not going to work because he's way too hung up on you. If you show him what he's missing, then he'll come crawling back to you faster than when Alice and I run to Saks when they have a sale. It's like I told you, just don't let him know that you actually _want _to take him back. It makes all the difference."

Deep breath. "Okay, I can do this. I'm just going to go in there and be mature about it. I'll be calm and cavalier and act like it doesn't bother me at all." Ha, like that's actually going to work.

"Good, that's perfect. It'll drive him up the wall, and it'll provide great entertainment for me."

I'm choosing to ignore that. "I can do this. I can do this. _I can do this_."

Ava's reassuring smile just turned into a grimace. Oh, God. What could possibly make things worse?

"I'm glad you think so because the double whammy has just arrived."

I hopped out of that car faster than when Alice goes shopping at Saks. I took one look at the situation, and jumped back in the car. Ava hadn't even bothered to get out. "Son of a bitch, I can't do this."

"I couldn't even handle that." I think I'm going to throw up. Actually, no, I _want _to throw up because maybe, just maybe, it'll kill me. I don't know how, but maybe it'll kill me. If not, I could just go wait in the woods until Victoria finds me. I think her stupid torture tactics would be better than this. "So, did you see any blood yet?"

"Well, since I'm not out there, I doubt there's any sort of blood. Besides, Edward's got his new girlfriend to hold him back if he gets too riled up."

"Bella, I highly doubt Tanya could hold Edward back from beating the crap out of Jacob even if she tried." She said _its _name. I could've handled it (despite the fact that I'm fixated on somehow avoiding this situation), but she went and said its name. The very _someon-thing_ that Edward and I talked about all through Twilight time has come to ruin my Eclipse time. I hate her. I hate her! _I hate her!_

Tanya, not Ava. Ava's the muscle for me.

I have to do this. But, I can't. No, I can. No, I can't. I CAN! I CAN'T!

STOP IT!

I'm doing it. I just have to make my legs move and control my temper before someone is blown up.

It's now or never, Bella. I'd rather it be _never!_ "Come on, let's go." Ava jumped out of the car immediately. I noticed, though, before she did that she had that dazed look on her face that I notice all of her victims have when she forces them to do something. "That's strange…oh, well."

There was definitely a very serious situation going on here. Tanya dropped Edward off for school, I suppose since she's such a considerate…whatever she is to him (I don't _really _know since I haven't had the will power to ask anyone other than Ava, and what a great help she was), and Jacob was waiting for us outside. Now, this would all be well and good if I'd been there with Edward this morning because I can actually stop a fight between the two goofballs and Tanya can't.

"Sorry, I don't have any leeches on my speed dial." Ah, so they were just starting.

I sauntered up to the face off without a backwards glance at Edward's newly acquired shadow. "Why, hello Jacob! I was wondering when I would see you again. You know, I only included this part of the book when I gave it to you so you _wouldn't _try that joke. It wasn't funny in the book and it isn't funny now." Jacob did not appreciate my sarcasm if that's what the scowl he shot at me meant.

Edward seemed to want to somehow hurt Jacob despite the fact that they were both well aware of this part of the book. "You could have reached me at Bella's house, of course." Jacob growled at Edward in response.

Light bulb moment! "What are you talking about, Edward? You haven't been to my house in ages. I highly doubt Jacob's phone skills are that good as to catch you in the few moments you might be there."

Ha! That went towards my make Edward more jealous than I am plan and made Jacob stop shaking all at once! "Bella…"

Wow, I really _can _do this. And I'm not even trembling. Sure, I think my blood pressure's a little high, but other than that, I feel no adverse side effects of being bitchy to Edward. "What? It's the truth and you know how I feel the truth is the most important thing at all times." I smirked at him before turning my attentions back toward Jacob. I forgot how much I actually missed him. "So, what happened this weekend while I was away? Did Paul and Emmett get into a fight even after I tried to solve the issue before it arose? And, by the way, thanks for showing up to that, you butthead!"

Well, there goes my so-called name-calling ability. "They didn't start out fighting, but that red-head pushed the big one—"

"Emmett."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, the red-head—"

"Victoria!"

Jacob's eyes blazed. Well, there goes his temper. I wonder how soon it'll be before mine goes off too…"WHATEVER! VICTORIA LITERALLY PUSHED EMMETT ON TOP OF PAUL AND THEN THEY STARTED FIGHTING BECAUSE THEY WERE ON TOP OF ONE ANOTHER!"

Clearly Edward's has already blown. "Well, Jacob, perhaps you could scream it louder and then _everyone _could hear you!" Edward yelled back at him.

This is going to turn into a blood bath really soon. People were starting to gather to watch the fight break out, and, to be quite honest, they're going to get to watch me beat both of these guys up pretty darn soon! "Hey, at least I _told _her! You were with her all weekend sucking up to her parents _and _not telling her about this!"

I wonder how Tanya is taking all of this. When I turned to look, I found that she had parked the BMW that she'd borrowed from Rosalie and was heading our way. If she comes and talks to me, this really will turn into a fight. "I didn't know until I got back and I haven't seen Bella since then!"

Jacob scoffed. "Liar! I know _exactly_ what you've been doing at night! You seeBella all the time!" JACOB! Don't say that stuff out loud! Wait, Edward's been watching me?

Edward's tone suddenly sounded deadly. "You have no idea what you're talking about, mutt. At least I'm keeping her safe."

Jacob's tone matched his. "You have no idea what I've been doing to keep her safe." If this argument had been between me and Edward, I would have been kissing him by now. Jacob and Edward were so close to one another, their noses were practically touching.

And the temper finally shows up. "Alright! That's enough out of both of you. Okay, for one, back away from each other. NOW!" Good, they listened to me. And now I have their attention.

Jacob is clearly waiting for me to tell Edward off and Edward's clearly waiting for me to tell Jacob to beat it. Well, they're both going to be disappointed. "I'm disgusted with both of you. You're acting like two children fighting over a piece of candy! You know the whole reason I tried to get you to work together was so that I could finally figure out which one of you could be the bigger man and accept my help or work together on something. I guess neither of you are quite as macho as seem to think you are."

Ava was enjoying this entirely too much. She was trying to keep her laughter as quite as possible as I scolded the two guys that were in love with me. Well, maybe two guys were in love with me. One for sure. Anyway…

"Edward, you know I told you to talk to me about all of this. I don't care if you were too busy hanging out with your new girlfriend to tell me when we got back, you should have told me." I've said something that shocked him, but I'm not sure which part of that statement was shocking. I didn't bother waiting for him to give me some excuse before I moved on to Jacob. "And Jake, you know better than to make a scene here. If you wanted to talk to me, you should have just called. I've been waiting for you to call me back or even write back for weeks!"

Abruptly, he looked up at me and said, "I had nothing to say." Crap it! I hate that freaking line from the clip of the movie I've seen.

But, it does give me an idea.

"Well, I have tons of things to say. Hang on." I grabbed his arm before he started his motorcycle. Oh, this is going to be good.

"The principal's on his way to discourage loitering on school property. Let's get to English, Bella, so you're not involved." Edward tried to reach out to me, but I sidestepped him. I wouldn't be going to English today if Jacob didn't mind me going with him, which he won't.

I looked over to Ava and nodded towards the principal coming towards us. "Cover for me?"

I took her smile in response to mean that I was doing exactly what I should be doing to make Edward more jealous than I was. "No problem."

Edward caught the gist of what I was planning to do and managed to get his hand on me this time. "Bella, what are you thinking? You're the top student in the school. You'd have to be insane to—"

I cut him off when he mentioned insanity. He has no right to call me insane after all the things that have been going on apparently behind my back, and now I don't even care if I sound as cold as I thought I did. "At the risk of sounding like a know-it-all, the technical definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different outcome. If you really wanted to talk about insanity, it would have to be about you and me." Shock. That's the only thing that registers on Edward's face, but I keep on him. "Apparently it's quite insane for me to think that you will _ever _be honest with me about anything." Score one for Bella! "Tanya's waiting for you. You shouldn't keep her too long."

I meant that in every single way possible.

I saw the hurt in his eyes. I really burned him. I know it was wrong of me, but I had to let out all the anger and hurt that's been inside of me ever since he left last year sometime and this just happened to be it. It felt good to be so cold and unforgiving instead of holding back everything I've been thinking about.

I started to feel a pang of guilt, but I smothered it by turning away from him and climbing onto Jake's motorcycle behind him. I saw Jacob smile at Edward before he turned around to me. "You sure about this? You seem pretty pissed."

He has no idea. "Oh, I am, but at the moment I'm angrier at someone else." I threw Edward a very pointed look towards Tanya and Rosalie's BMW. I'm sure he got the picture when I wrapped my arms around Jacob's torso. It was mean to both of them, but I couldn't very well fall off the motorcycle, could I? "Let's go."

Now he's just joking around. "You're not worried about getting into trouble, Miss Valedictorian?"

At least, it would have been a joke if the principal had not chosen that exact moment to intervene. "Okay, everyone get to class! Senior year isn't over just yet. That means you, Mr. Crowley."

Jacob grinned back at me. "You're in for it now." Edward and Tanya braced themselves as the principal reached our little party.

"I mean it. Detention for anyone who's still standing here when I turn around again." He pauses to take in the situation, and his eyes widen when he sees me on the motorcycle. "Mr. Cullen, Miss Cullen, Miss Swan, and their _guests_…do we have a problem here?"

Edward makes a swipe for my arm again, but I keep my arms firmly locked around Jacob. This is getting risky, but I have complete faith in Ava to help me out. "Not at all, Mr. Greene. Tanya and Jacob were just leaving. Lizzie, Bella, and I were just headed to class." Edward sent me a pleading look while Mr. Greene was eying both Tanya and Jake. I'm thinking he liked Tanya a little more than a married man his age should, but he's clearly intimidated by Jacob's guns. And I mean his arms.

Thank God for Ava. I seriously do not know how I would survive all of this without her. "Actually, Mr. Greene, there is a problem." She locks his gaze with hers and I see his eyes glaze over. "Bella got a major case of cramps and called in sick this morning. Jacob was never here. In fact, you weren't here this morning. You were in your office listening to your secret obsession, Justin Beiber, on the radio when you dozed off and had the strangest dream about three students and two people you've never seen before. Got it?" He nods dumbly and heads back in, conceivably to listen to Justin Beiber. That was definitely not the story I would have come up with, but then again I'm not the one with the power of persuasion. "Have fun, Bells."

Edward is literally standing with his mouth wide open. I wonder if he'll still be in this position when everyone leaves. It would be an interesting spectacle, to say the least.

"Have a great day at school, Eddie." I winked at him before Jacob ziped us out of the parking lot. And here I thought today would be boring.

* * *

**TADA! Are you happy, sad, angry? I thought bella should go a little wild after _Tanya _showed up and ruined things for her! review, and tell me what you think :) **

_**Preview for the next chapter:**_

"I haven't been depressed." He mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

No, you've just been obsessing over whether or not I'm going to call you. "Oh, really? Well, then what _have _you been?"

"I've been tired. And bored. And tired again. Then repeat it all and the day's over. The question is: how have _you _been, Bella?"


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello, everyone! I think my apologies for the time comes at the beginning of each of my updates, so here it is. I'M SORRY! I'm working on a schedule for everything to get done in a timely manner. Hopefully things will move faster in the future. **

**Anyway, for this chapter, I want to adress a couple of things I read in the reviews. One, Bella sort of is not really fighting for Edward. It's complicated because I made it very complicated. Edward doesn't realize a couple of things are happening, and Bella sort of lets her imagination about what exactly Edward and Tanya's relationship is all about (not to say that something is or isn't going on there). Everything is a matter of perspective. Two, you'll know who the person with Victoria is very soon. And Three, I added some Edward/Bella action in the end to appease those who wanted more romance (at this point in the story, there's a lot of romantic tension going on, but the tension will break at some point in the future and everything will go back to semi-normal for those two). **

**Okay, now that i've effectively bored you with this author's note, I will let you go on reading! Enjoy...this chapters a bit convoluted, but it's got some important things in it. And don't forget to review! :) **

* * *

He called her as soon as he could find time. Lunch seemed loud and crowded enough that the Cullens wouldn't pay attention to what he was doing or who he was talking to. Edward and Alice seemed on edge all day, but Elizabeth was skipping circles around them. He had to tell all of this to her. "There was a massive dude in the parking lot this morning. He definitely could have taken down Cullen. God, you should have seen this guy! I mean, he was _enormous! _I don't know what Bella's doing wasting her time with Cullen. I think this guy hates Cullen almost as much as you do. Maybe you could talk to him."

Victoria seemed a million miles away. "Anything else?"

"Oh, umm…I think he might have mentioned your name. They have no idea what's going on though. I don't think. They just said you threw something. What was going on this weekend?" He wasn't worried about her. He knew she could handle herself, but that didn't stop him from asking.

Her answer was immediate and something he had become accustom to. "Nothing, it doesn't concern you."

"But—"

"No, I just can't tell you. Perhaps I'll stumble across you tonight…we can talk then." She hung up without another word.

* * *

**This Is So Not My Nature!**

"OH MY GOD, I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DOING THIS!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE DOING THIS EITHER!"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP ME?"

"BECAUSE THE LOOK ON EDWARD'S FACE WHEN HE REALIZED YOU WERE LEAVING WAS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!"

YES! "WAHOOOOOOO!" Wind in my hair, eyes not on Edward or _it, _and nowhere to go all day other than anywhere I freaking want to equals me having a heck of a lot of fun. When we first shot down the road, I was slightly afraid that Edward would pop up on either side of me and start lecturing me about being reckless…again.

Or worse, the real Edward could have run beside us and lectured me all the way to the Quileute border. I might have thrown myself off the motorcycle just out of frustration.

"So, now what do we do?" I ask when we pull into Jacob's driveway.

"You tell me. You're the one that came up with this plan. Although, I thoroughly approve of it." He pulled me into a massive bear hug that I thought I was going to avoid since I didn't randomly show up at his house without him knowing about.

"JACOB—CAN'T—BREATHE!" He laughed just like he used to back in the good old pre-wolfy days.

Once I found that Jacob hadn't actually broken any of my ribs or caused my lungs to collapse, I kicked him as hard as I could on his shin. It probably hurt my foot more than it hurt him, but it definitely stung him a little. "Hey! What was that for?"

"One, for showing up this morning."

His pouty teenage side came out for a moment. "But I got you here because I came!"

"I know. I'm not finished!"

"What else is there?"

"Well, there's the fact that you made me communicate to you through Seth! Do you honestly realize how freaking worried I've been? All I've been hearing for the past like three weeks is 'Jacob's depressed…you should go talk to him' or 'Billy thinks something's really wrong with Jake…you should go visit him…why aren't you two talking anymore?' or there was one time when it was 'Bella, what if Jacob is at suicide risk and you could be the only one who can get through to him'. I HAD TO HEAR THIS CRAP ALL THE TIME AND I'VE BEEN SO FREAKING BUSY THAT I WANT TO PULL ALL OF MY HAIR OUT!"

Jacob simply leans against the wall, and is clearly trying not to laugh. "So, you kicked me?"

Harumph! "Yes, I kicked you. I didn't want to break my hand trying to slug you."

He snorted. "Does that happen in the book?" Butthead.

"Yes, in fact it does, but Book Jacob tells Book Bella that she would have done better if she hit him with a bat or a golf club or something like that, which is what I'll be doing if I hear one more thing about how depressed you've been."

"I haven't been depressed." He mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

No, you've just been obsessing over whether or not I'm going to call you. "Oh, really? Well, then what _have _you been?"

"I've been tired. And bored. And tired again. Then repeat it all and the day's over." Okay, I believe the tired thing. The bags under his eyes could only be the result of less than twenty hours of sleep a week. But bored? How could anyone be bored with all the crap that's going on around here? Jacob interrupted my thoughts before I could actually question anything of him. "The question is: how have _you _been, Bella?"

Wow, that's a heck of a question. What is the right word to describe how I've been? "Stressed. And completely unstable. And stressed again. Then repeat it all and the day's over until the next one comes along. "

I don't understand. First, I shocked Edward somehow when I was lecturing him in the parking lot about something I said. And now I've shocked Jacob after I said one word. Maybe that's my special power along with some sort of shield. "Bella, I've seen you handle just about everything that someone can throw at you. You're the most together person I've ever met."

If I could laugh after that hug of his, I would. "No, I'm not. You know, on top of high school ending, my imminent death, the fact that my parents and grandmother are all coming to town for graduation, the fact that I'm now valedictorian and have to write a breathtaking speech that will knock everyone out of their seats, and having to deal with Victoria trying to kill me too, I'm close to screaming all the time. And you wanna know something else? I can read minds now! But only on occasion. We're not sure why. And I persuaded-like with a power-Ava to do something today. I'm totally freaking out and I don't know what's going on with the story anymore and I'm so sick of Marcus being around trying to make me join forces with him when I don't even have forces and—"

Thank God Jacob interrupted me. I was running out of oxygen. "Alright, Bella, I think you need to sit down."

"Yeah, sitting sounds good." Maybe the room will stop spinning if I do that.

"I also think you might need a straight jacket, but that's just my opinion." I send him a glare that's made Edward shake in his boots before. "I'm just saying!"

"See? I am totally stressed and unstable. I just want to sleep and forget about all of this, but I can't! Plus, on top of all of that Edward has some stupid new _thing _that's following him around with her arms occasionally around him like he's _hers _or something and I have no idea what to do because I still have to just quash the urge to poun—"

Dead-pan serious voice. "Bella, I really do not want to hear this."

Whoops. "Hmm, good point." I smiled up at him. "My bad." Please don't rant at me about why you're so much better for me than Edward. I'm pretty sure I can't handle that right now.

"No problem…I figured you might say something about him eventually. And, since you're a little crazy right now, I should have seen it coming." Great, now I really feel like a humongous bitch. Jacob's being totally nice to me and I'm sitting here complaining about Edward. I need to keep myself in order or I could end up hurting him more than I already have.

"Jacob?" Oh, my God! I will never underestimate the power of puppy dog eyes ever again. "Look, I'm really sorry about everything that's happened or might have happened…or might happen. Just in general, I am sorry about everything past, present, and future. All of it. Just blame me and everything should be okay."

He smirked at my hurried and completely random apology. "You're the one who made this whole story up? Yeah, I don't think so. I think I'm just gonna blame the author who made this stuff up. You're just the innocent bystander to all of this, right?" I hate it when people use my own words against me. I should really be less opinionated about everything.

"Well, perhaps not _that_ innocent." I winked at him. He didn't even crack a smile.

"Bella, I'm serious. I mean, how is this book even popular? It's the worst love story I've ever heard of."

Truthfully, I have no earthly idea why I ever got into the book. I always thought it was about the romance between Edward and Bella, but now having lived through part of it, I don't think that's everything. To be perfectly honest, I don't like Bella at all. She's so whiny (as I try not to be, but fail anyway) and the damsel in distress practically all of the time, and she hates her life when she has a vampire boyfriend who loves her, a werewolf going gaga over her, two loving parents, and friends all over the place in Forks. I've tried to be kick-ass and make things go my way even to the point of being slightly, if not insanely, reckless. "Girls love the romance, Jake. What can I tell you? You shouldn't worry, though, there are plenty of those girls that are in love with you and would willingly take you away from here at any given moment." I would have added that Ava used to be one of them, but I thought better than to freak him out with that.

"Really?" I can't tell if he's disgusted or intrigued by the idea.

"Totally! There's a massive Team Jacob fan base. People literally fight over Team Edward and Team Jacob. I've seen people throw punches before." Not kidding. It totally happened back home when we were all freshman. It was probably the most ridiculously frightening moments of my life.

"So, who wins?" You know, I probably shouldn't have told Jacob about the 'team' thing. I tell him and I get the same reaction that I got from Uncle Charlie! Who won, indeed!

Great, there goes that lovely temper of mine. "I win-s! I mean, I win. I mean, _Bella _wins. Oh, God, I don't know. Someone wins and it's pretty much neither you nor Edward. Or maybe everyone wins and we all live happily ever after. I've messed with everything a bit, so who really knows how things are going to end up. The way things are going, I have a feeling we're all going to end up dead on the side of the road somewhere!"

Jacob chuckled at my exaggeration. "Bella, you do remember who the werewolf is and who the human is here, right?"

I need an aspirin. "Sorry…I can't help it. Stress does crazy things to me. And I haven't even begun to study for finals, I haven't picked which college I'm going to, and I still need to write the valedictorian speech!" Jacob surprised me by grabbing my hand suddenly and pulling me somewhere outside. If I remember my geography correctly he was heading towards the beach. "Um, Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are you taking me?"

He grinned at me with a secretive smile. For some reason I felt like I was with pre-wolfy Jacob, and I'm not just saying that because this is the first time I've seen him look excited about something that didn't involve killing a vampire since before he was a werewolf. Actually, Jacob actually looks _happy _for once and not broody. Don't get me wrong, broody is a very nice look for any guy, but Jacob just pulls _happy _off a lot better. "Somewhere nice and quiet where I go to calm myself down sometime."

I would've slapped him if I was in control of my hand. "If you take me to a freaking meadow, I might just punch you whether or not I break my hand." The meadow is a sacred thing that is only between me and Edward. I really hope Jacob isn't making this into some ploy to make me like him or something.

Jacob rolled his eyes at me. "We're not going to a meadow. Did you forget that the last time I saw you in a meadow you were this close to being eaten by a bloodsucker?"

"Good point. THEN WHERE ARE WE GOING?" Jacob turned me around to see that we, indeed, made it to the beach. "Oh…well…wow, you know I never really looked at this place before. It's actually kind of pretty here." It wasn't raining right now, so that automatically made things better. The sun was actually trying to creep out from between the clouds a little. There was a very nice breeze coming off the little waves of the water. All in all, I should have fallen off the cliff today rather than that nasty day when I actually did.

"Yeah, just sort of stand close to the water and close your eyes. Everything just goes away." Wow, Jacob's making a very honorable attempt at being deep. I am so proud of him! "Just try it."

Alright, here goes nothing. I stood as close to that freezing cold water as I would go and shut my eyes. The sound of the waves mixed in with the wind in my hair did actually make every buzzing thought in my head just melt away for about a second until something absolutely freezing splashed me right in the face. "JACOB!"

The little brat was backing away from me so I couldn't splash him back in return. "OH MY GOD, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"You won't be able to catch up with me!" He laughed as he sprinted down the beach. I took off in hot pursuit after him.

"YOU ARE SO IMMATURE!" Once I was close enough, I threw myself at his back just so I could tackle him to the ground. We ended up rolling down into the freaking cold water and completely soaked by my actions.

"God, you are the most uncoordinated person in the world."

"Ha! Why do you think I want to be a vampire so badly? Have you ever heard of a clumsy vampire?" I winced when I realized what I said, but it didn't seem to affect Jacob like I thought it would. I thought I would be getting a twenty minute lecture about the evils of vampires, but he just laughed off my comment. Maybe this beach has magical calming powers.

"Somehow that actually makes sense to me."

"I can't believe you didn't just wolf out on me about that." He shrugged, but there was something there that he wasn't telling me. "Jacob, what is it? Is something wrong?"

He shook his head. Well, that just makes me want to know what's going on more! "You're turning blue, Bella. We should get you warmed up." And with that Jacob pulled me off of my ice cold butt and into his very warm (and very muscular—ahhh!) arms. "Better?" He had a very self-satisfied look in his eyes. I'm really starting to think that he might be trying to have a date with me.

I would not give him the satisfaction for too long. I squirmed until he put me back down on the ground. "Yeah, a lot better. Hypothermia would not be a good thing for me to go through. Do you have hot chocolate? Despite you being my personal space heater, I think all of my internal organs are frozen."

"Sure, sure…" We walked a lot slower up to his house than we did in the first place. I was freezing my butt off so I was trying to speed up the meandering Jacob.

"Is there a reason you're walking this slow? It's freaking cold out here just so you know, Mr. I-run-a-temperature-of-109!"

Jacob clearly has _something _on his mind. I swear, though, if he tries anything on me right now…well, I don't even know what I'll do. "Bella, why aren't you with Edward now?"

"Because I'm here." I answered without breaking my slow pace.

"But why are you here?"

"Because I needed a break from…everything."

"Then you didn't come because you wanted to see me?"

Damn it. "Of course I wanted to see you, but that wasn't the only reason I wanted to come here."

Jacob was getting really frustrated with my half-answers. This is actually kind of entertaining. "Like what?"

"Like…pissing off Edward and Alice and getting away from Edward's new girlfriend."

Jacob's eyes got really big then like I'd dropped some massive secret down on him. "He has a girlfriend…that's not you?"

"That would be correct." I said through clenched teeth.

"So, theoretically, Edward wouldn't get mad if you and I did something, right?"

I didn't even _want _to think about that! "It wouldn't _matter _what he thinks about it, but it would matter what _I _think about that, and I already told you that I don't think of you like that, Jake!" I don't think that even made sense, but Jacob seems to have gotten the basic message.

I should probably go home now. Screw the stupid hot chocolate! I'd rather catch pneumonia than talk about this stuff right now. I came here to relax, not get more riled up!

He winked at me. He literally just winked at me. Ugh, _boys_! "But you do think about me?"

"I'm leaving." I tried taking off towards the road instead of his house. I don't even care that I don't have my truck. Okay, maybe I care just a little since Victoria is after me and everything…

Jacob caught up with me in a second. "Fine, we won't talk about that." Obviously, he cares more about having me in his company than he does about talking why I'm in his company in the first place.

I eyed him suspiciously. "Really?"

"Really. I should tell you about something else anyway." My confusion just shot up a couple of notches. "Did you know Sam's mad at you?"

I must explain this slowly to him. "Well, seeing as I've done nothing extraordinary to piss him off, you can tell Sam to suck it…and stop getting his fur in a twist." Jacob just raised an eyebrow at me. "Fine…what's he all torn up about?"

"He thought you were the one person in the world with as much reason to hate the Cullens as he does. Sam feels sort of…betrayed that you would just let them back into your life like they never hurt you."

I allowed almost as much acid into my voice as I did when I talked about Tanya to Edward in the parking lot. "Sam doesn't know a thing about who I did and did not let back into my life."

"It seems to me that you're pretty comfortable with all of them even the new creepy guy that showed up!"

Hey! No one goes Alec a creep except for me! "Alec is a nice guy! And I'm helping him with some of his romantic problems. And I'm not mad at the _Cullens _for what happened; I am mad at Edward for what happened."

"But you still have feelings for him." A statement, not a question.

My temper is going into serious overdrive. "I…don't know, okay? I have no idea what's going on with me right now. I just wish things weren't so complicated." Great, I'm thinking about _crying _now. I am just a baby!

"Maybe things wouldn't be so complicated if you looked for someone within your own species." Oh my God, I hate that quote! It's so degrading! I feel like he's accusing me of trying to go out with an animal or something, but that's what I would be doing if I ever gave him a chance. WHICH I WON'T!

While I may have hated that quote, I loved the book's rebuttal. "Well, that just sucks!" I practically exploded. "I guess I'm stuck with Mike Newton then!" I had to hold back a laugh at Jake's dejected and slightly disgusted look.

"I'm human," he muttered under his breath.

"But you turn into a massive wolf when you're mad. I'm absolutely positive that Mike doesn't do that. He's not even close to being immortal either. So, looks like I should go back to school and ask him out. That would just make his day, don't you think?"

"That's not fair!" Jacob was pouting. He looked like me when I don't get what I want. "I didn't choose this."

"Yeah, boo freaking hoo...none of the Cullens chose to become vampires of their own free will. They just worked with the hand that life dealt them."

Jacob was getting really mad at me. It might have been about the fact that everything I said was heavily laced with sarcasm. Jacob, though, was totally serious. "They shouldn't exist. Their existence goes against nature."

"And I'm sure nature is totally equipped to handle horse-sized wolves!"

Jacob changed instantly. I remember the book saying something about Jacob having aged a lot because of the change, but I don't think I ever really noticed how true that was. He just looked exhausted in more ways than one. "Bella, what I am was born in me. It's a part of who I am, who my family is, who we all are as a tribe—it's the reason why we're still here. Besides that, I _am _still human."

The only reason I stopped my verbal attack was because he looked so sincere and sure of himself that I hated to have to burst his human bubble anymore. "A really annoying human that needs to learn how _not _to piss me off when I'm having a rough day."

That did the trick. He smiled at me. "I think I figured it out."

"Good, because I'm still cold and I want something hot right now!"

* * *

We waited until my clothes were dry and I was warm before Jacob took me home. School was already out. I didn't bother going by school to pick up my books because they were all already waiting for me on my desk in my room when I got there. There were also a couple of post-it notes that were on top of the pile of books.

The first one said:  
_Did you have fun with Jacob? Are you on Team Jacob yet? Not that I don't love my fake brother, but Jacob doesn't have a snotty girlfriend that I had to help enroll in our school for the next month! Tanya is such a creepy witch! Ugh, whatever. Call me later to tell me all about your day, and we need to pick out earrings for you for the wedding.  
Love ya, Ava _

The next one said:  
_What. The. Heck. Were. You. Thinking? I have been beside myself _all day_ because I couldn't see a thing about you and you're not even home yet (I can't even see when you're going to be back here!) which is why I have to leave you a crummy note. You're in so much trouble! By the way, Jacob is not invited to the graduation party. And I'm totally experimenting on makeup for the wedding on you for hours because of this.  
Alice  
P.S. I'm riding with you in the morning because I don't think I can take riding with Edward and Tanya again. Thank you! (You're going to say yes…that I did see __) _

The third said:  
_Bella, we need to talk.  
Marcus_

And the last one was not quite as big of a bummer as the others:  
_Bella, she's coming. As in, she's coming here when there's a vampire army in Seattle. Help me!  
Alec_

I know I should have probably done something about all of these notes, but I had no desire to talk to anyone about vampires, Edward, or makeup. So, instead, I went downstairs and watched the Vampire Diaries (and forced Seth to watch it with me) and did my homework. And the best part? Not a single vampire showed up to yell at me.

* * *

I hate rain. I really do. Which kind of sucks when you live in the rainiest place in the continental US! I should have known that the niceness of earlier today wouldn't last. Usually, it's quite easy to ignore the rain outside, even when it's a really nasty storm. But tonight I couldn't block out the noise. Probably because of the stress of everything going on with Edward and Jacob and everyone else, or at least that's what I plan on telling myself.

"Good grief! This is ridiculous!" I might have to resort to knocking myself out if I don't go to sleep soon. I can't be exhausted for school just in case the principal somehow remembers that I skipped out on school yesterday on the back of Jacob's motorcycle. I flipped on the light and had to hold back a shriek.

He rushed over and clamped my mouth shut with his hand. "Shh, Bella don't scream."

I didn't scream, but the words practically flew out of my mouth loud enough to be a scream. "What are you _doing _here? You're not supposed to be here! We're broken up! You're dating someone else! I AM REALLY FREAKING MAD AT YOU!"

Well, at least he had the decency to look sheepish. "It's my watch right now. To make sure Victoria doesn't get inside. Alice and I are watching the perimeter around your house right now. In the rain."

He's lying. There's no way Alice would ever schedule a watch when she had to stand out in the rain. I wouldn't either! Think about the frizzy hair! Plus, she never came to yell at me because of my disappearance yesterday. I guess she's waiting to do that in the morning. Edward's explanation also confused me about something else. "Right…so, why are you in my room?"

"Well, I—I'm just—I, umm—wanted to make sure that you got home from La Push safe." Wait, is he blushing? Am I seeing things? Or am I really starting to lose it from sleep deprivation? And, most importantly, why do I care?

Oh, I get it! The light bulb in my head just totally went off. "You liar. I know exactly why you're in my room." I DID FALL ASLEEP! AND NOW I'M DREAMING!

His eyes practically bulged out of his skull! "You do?"

"Yes, I know exactly why you're here." I hopped up so I could run my hands over his chest. Dear God, he's so hot! I wonder why my other dreams about him haven't been this vivid.

This Dream Edward doesn't seem to know what's going on. Well, I'll get him on the straight and narrow. It is my dream after all. "Bella, are you okay?"

"I'd be a lot better if you would just shut up and kiss me!" I whispered before he closed the miniscule gap between us. I never want to wake up ever again if this is how my dreams are going to go from now on. It started out pretty intense. This was the most vivid dream I'd ever had, so I made it count. I pushed harder and harder against him until his tongue finally got into the action. One of his hands moved up my neck to my hair, sending shivers up my back. "Edward, please don't leave me again…" I murmured against his lips when he drew back.

"Never again, Bella." His golden eyes held nothing but utmost sincerity. "I love you too much to let go."

Great, even in my dreams, he can bring tears to my eyes. "I love you too…I'm so sorry I ever thought otherwise."

He brushed the tears that were rolling down my cheeks away. "Shh, you don't have to think about that anymore. Come here," he drew me closer to him again and we were kissing again, but there was something else to it. Something more heated, more passionate. Even as close as we were, he wasn't close enough.

I saw the same longing in his eyes and suddenly we were both on my bed, kissing even more fervently. I fumbled towards the buttons on his shirt while he placed delicate kisses down my throat. "Bella, you have no idea how I wish…"

"Wish what?"

"That this weren't just a dream to you."

I shot up out of my, entirely alone. Was I just dreaming? I could still feel every one of my nerves tingling from what I thought might have just happened. Outside, the storm had slowed down slightly, but not enough that I could fall back asleep or maybe asleep for the first time.

Why the heck do I have such freaking awesome dreams? I really wish I could get Edward to kiss me like that in real life, but he's way too much of a prude for anything like that to ever happen. He's still a twentieth century gentleman, through and through. I don't think I could wait for a wedding night with him for that, though. That was entirely too nice to wait for.

But, wait! If this was just a dream that means Edward is still with Tanya! "You know what? I don't even care. Edward is going to be mine again if I have to beat the crazy witch he's with myself. Even if she is a vampire!" My little pep talk made me feel better almost immediately.

Seth's voice drifted through the hall. He must just be getting back inside. "Bella, are you still awake?"

"Crap!" I flipped off my light and went to sleep.

_**

* * *

**_****

And that's all she wrote! Don't worry too much Team Edward people, Jacob and Bella are just friends...maybe...but seriously, Bella has much more to worry about than Jacob.

So, if you liked it, if you hated it, if you didn't even read it that closely review for me! I'm addicted to them!

Thanks!

_****__****_

Preview for the next chapter:

Well, this isn't awkward at all. If he could just look at me some other way than like he's about to kill me, it might be a little better. "Hi." No response. Did he hear the conversation I just had with her? Is that why he's mad? Maybe he's still mad about yesterday. "So…I plan on staying at school for the whole day today." God, what is wrong with him? "Jacob didn't almost wolf out on me once! Isn't that great? No danger at all."

"Bella," oh crap, he's going to yell at me, "Do you have _any _idea how close I was to following you and that mutt all the way through the border line? To shaking some sense into you after you just jumped on the back of that bike? To breaking the treaty and coming after you? Do you know what that would have meant?"

I swear, I feel like I'm back in first grade. "Umm…I don't know."

Well, that did it.


	6. Chapter 5

*Disclaimer* Hello, people! Im really really sorrry i've been taking so long, but college is a bitch just so you know...and college applications are worse...but at least i finally got this chapter up! :)

**so, anyways, i'm really sorry it took so long but here's chapter 5 and i'll try making chapter 6 come faster, i promse :) **

**so without further ado, CHAPTER 5! oh, and go review for me, por favor! **

* * *

He was starting to think he might get lucky tonight. Sure, it might be a little kinky to do it outside in the woods, but he doubted he would mind once she got him started. Not breaking stride with the heavy make out session they were having, Victoria slammed him against a tree with a little too much force.

The only thing that he would get lucky about tonight was that he would walk away without a serious concussion. "Are you alright?" She asked, keeping just the right amount of concern in her voice as not to sound bored.

"Yeah, I think so. You know, this kind of thing wouldn't happen if I was a vampire." He didn't see her eyes roll at his suggestion. He was just her back up plan in case Riley didn't come through for her. One of them as a vampire was enough for now.

But, of course, she couldn't tell him that. "Soon, my darling. Soon…"

* * *

**I Am So Not An Imprint. I'm Totally Switzerland. **

"_Bella_…_Beeelllllaaaaaa…Beeeelllllllaaaaaaa…_" The last bits of my latest dream with Edward's voice were falling away from me because of the sudden assault on me. "BELLA! WAKE UP RIGHT NOW!" That was definitely not Edward's voice. I didn't want to talk to the voice it actually belonged to right now. He would just harsh my dream-induced mellow. "BELLA, BRITNEY'S COMING HERE IN A MATTER OF WEEKS. YOU NEED TO WAKE UP AND TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

I bet Alec would be a lot happier if he could dream like I do.

I gave him the best advice I could think of. "_Hit me, baby, one more time…_" I mumbled under my covers. I doubt he knows who Britney Spears is, but maybe he'll understand that it's far too early for me to deal with him. Especially since Alice should be coming by as well to talk to me about something. Or it might just be because she doesn't want to be around the Tanya/Edward cuteness.

Great, now I'm in a bad mood.

"OW!" I was surprised when I actually was hit, hopefully not as hard as he could have, on my shoulder by Alec. "What was that for?"

"Because you told me to!" Alec did not look very good at all. His hair, while usually completely together, was shooting out in all directions like he'd tried to pull it out. His clothes were still dirty from what looked like his last hunting trip. He didn't even bother to get the mud off of his shoes! And I'm pretty sure if he wasn't a vampire, his eyes probably would have been bloodshot. Good grief, what is his deal? "But why did you call me 'baby'?"

I just groaned and plopped back on my back again. "It's a song, you dope. Now I'm going to have a massive bruise on my shoulder and I'm wearing a strapless dress for graduation. Thanks a lot!"

Alec shocked me again by grabbing my shoulders and pulling me up to a seated position. Oh, he's asking for it if he thinks I'm up to this level of intensity this early. "Bella, _she's coming_."

I rolled my eyes. I really do need to get him away from Edward. It's starting to affect his attitude a little too much. "Duh! I've known she was coming since I met her." Wait, who's he talking about again? I just want to go back to sleep and dream about Edward some more.

Alec's having a legitimate meltdown. "WHAT? How did you know and not tell me? She could get hurt or _killed _with everything that's going on around here!"

Okay, I have no idea who Alec is talking about, but if he's talking about Victoria I only have one thing to say. "Alec, she _will _die. That's sort of the point."

Oh my God! He looks like he's about to cry! "I don't want to live like Marcus, Bella. She can't die."

"Why in God's name would you die if she dies? She's a bitch!"

Alec threw me a confused look. "Wait, who are you talking about?"

"Who are _you _talking about?"

"Britney!"

"Oh, whoops! Disregard all of that stuff then…I thought you were talking about Victoria." Alec looks like he's about ready to hurt me a lot worse than his little tap on my shoulder did. "My bad."

Before Alec could actually decide how to use his years with the Volturi to his advantage against me, we were interrupted by the second (or third?) vampire to enter my house tonight. "Morning, Bella! Morning, Alec! Oh my goodness, Alec you look terrible!"

"Good morning to you too, Alice." Alec said stiffly.

Alice climbed through my window and brushed some of the dirt off of Alec's shirt. "You should go back to the house and clean up before ranting about Britney to Bella. She's just going to tell you to 'cool it' and that you're going to have to work out your problems with Britney because she can't control Britney's decisions." Wow, that was what I was going to tell him! Duh, Alice is psychic. "Plus, I have to talk to Bella. Did you get my note?" She asked me. Alec sort of hung back around the window, but he didn't leave. He obviously wasn't finished talking to me.

I finally got up and started to put on some sort of outfit for school. Since I apparently have to stun Edward with my beauty, I should always look 'hot' at school according to Ava. Alice probably wouldn't approve of what I had in mind, but that won't exactly stop me. "Don't you already know the answer to that?"

Alice grinned at me. "Of course, but I thought I would be polite and ask."

I'm still not exactly happy with her because she refused to tell me anything about the nature of Tanya's visit. I'll just have to be a little more snarky than usual. "Hmm, trying something new, are you?"

I suppose Alice caught wind of my decision to be angry with her. "Ouch. Just because I don't want to tell you about Tanya doesn't mean you have to be so rude. I actually came because I've had about enough of her anyway."

"I know, Alice. That's what you put in the note you gave me. And, by the way, why won't you tell me about her? I thought you were my friend." Pulling the friend card should garner some sympathy from her. At least I hope so before my frustration gets the better of me.

Yes, it's working. Alice looked pretty remorseful. "Bella, I am your friend."

Never mind, that frustration thing is definitely going into overdrive. "Then why can't you give me _something_ that can help me figure out what the heck is going on here?" Alec, still in the corner, was moving his head back and forth as Alice and I went back and forth.

"Because…" Oh, Alice did not plan how to handle this very well, "it would ruin everything! You can't know anything because then everything would be ruined. Yeah, that's it. I'm sorry, Bella, I know this is all confusing but if you really want everything to turn out good, then I can't tell you right now what's happening.

Alec is going to be scared of me after this. I should be able to intimidate Jane from the Volturi when I'm this angry. "_What did you see_?"

Alice looked completely innocent. "What do you mean?"

"Alice, tell me, please." I grabbed her shoulders just so I could look her in the eyes.

Bad idea.

Something even more so out of the ordinary happened when my hands made contact. I have no idea how this is all happening, but I have a pretty solid idea that my shielding power is a lot more awesome than Book Bella's was.

_Emmett, Angel, and Rosalie were all holding someone down on the ground. They were all in my room! Alice was standing by the door, watching. Watching what? Ava was shouting orders left and right, but no one was listening because of the thrashing figure that had one of my red shirts in his hand. He wasn't ready to give up anytime soon, but they all had him overpowered. Jasper jumped in the window and things calmed down immediately. The figure stopped moving around and just let out defeated sighs. Alice's head snapped up a second before voices came up the stairs. "Edward, stop!" A thump on the door made the entire operation inside move ten times faster until they all got the figure out of the house through the window. "You can't go in there…I've got bras all over the floor…and I think Seth might be making out with someone in there!" Wait, is that my voice? _

Alec decided to separate Alice and me when my completely blank expression didn't go away after a minute. "What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know what happened. You saw what happened. She just…touched my shoulders…and then…" Alice was freaking out outside almost as much as I was inside. If I moved again, I think I might hyperventilate.

"I think I saw the future…"

* * *

What a way to start off the day, huh? I mean, first I was visited by a maybe-dream Edward, then I was attacked by Alec about his girlfriend's travel arrangements, and then I see the future. I pretty much found out that along with my shield come the totally awesome gifts of persuasion, mind-reading, and future-seeing along with being a shield.

Well, at least I can say that I'm really unique from book Bella.

Needless to say, Alice didn't come to school with me. She didn't come to school period. She went straight to Carlisle to throw some theories around about what exactly I am shield-wise. I didn't want to go with her, so I went to school.

Simple as that.

I went to school like it was a normal day just like any other. Because, to everyone including me, it was. I just knew there was going to be some sort of fight in my bedroom. _Somehow_, I knew what was going to happen. But, if I treated today like any other day when I didn't know that there was going to be a huge fight in my bedroom that took the entire Cullen family to handle and that I had to keep Edward out of it somehow, then possibly I could keep the bubble of hysteria in my chest from building up too much.

Apparently, something in my face gave away what I was feeling inside because I was assaulted a second later by my short blonde friend. "So, how was the trip with Ali—where's Alice?"

"Probably talking with Carlisle about my mental deformities that somehow allow me to see into the future now along with my normal abilities." Better to drop the ball on her now instead of dragging it out for the rest of the day. There's no way Alice could go the entire day without telling every member of the Cullen family about what happened this morning.

Ava stopped walking alongside of me for a minute. I suppose she was processing the information. I certainly haven't yet. Which is why I have to keep walking otherwise the creepiness might seep into my thoughts more.

Ava recovered herself before I stepped into the building. "You—you saw the future? Like the _future_? How—how is this even possible? How are you doing this?"

"I don't know. I don't want to know, at least not right now. All I want is to make it through the last few days of high school, write the speech for graduation, and live through the summer to make it to Dartmouth in the fall. I don't want to even think about anything else until I am in a nice quiet room months from now and I can scream my head off because I'm so confused."

Ava scared me for a second by randomly hugging me. Of course, because of our height difference, she hugged me around my waist. It was kind of awkward. "Oh, God! I never would have realized that you were in such a terrible situation, Bella! Don't worry, Bella, I'll help you with anything you need me to, okay? If you want me to write your speech or persuade the Volturi into forgetting everything about you, then I will. I swear I will."

You know, I never really believed that Ava was on her period when she was turned, but after hearing that, I kind of do. "Hey, calm down. You've got a wedding to throw together really soon. I am totally fine, trust me."

She threw me her serious _do not mess with me_ face. "Seriously, Bells, you're _not _fine. Trust _me_. But you will be as soon as I figure out what's going on around here and fixing it myself."

I'm slightly scared. "Ava, you're not going to go and massacre half the town, are you?"

She waved off my concern. "No, of course not. I'm going to massacre everyone who's making you freak out so much." All of a sudden she whipped her head around to glare at someone. Seeing as I was still in crisis mode, I thought Victoria might be coming at me, but it was actually something a little worse. Tanya, with a butt load of books in her arms, was heading straight towards us. "She's at the top of my new hit list." Ava growled to me.

I can't tell if Tanya's smile is real or pasted on. "Hello, Sarah. Hello, Ava."

I guess it's the latter if she purposely used our 'real' names. Or she could just be unsure of what to call us. This is the first time I've actually spoken to her. "It's Bella." I said curtly. Ava followed with, "And I'm _Elizabeth_ when we're at school."

She put down the pile of books in her arms on a nearby table and covered her mouth. God, I hate that I can't tell if she's messing with us or not! "Whoops! Edward told me so much about you two that I thought the names he used were what you actually went by."

Well, color me even more confused. "Why would Edward call me Sarah?" He told me I was his Bella. He also said that I was nothing like his hallucination while he was away, but I'll try not to think about that.

Tanya shrugged. "I suppose he thought you preferred your real name as opposed to the name that you've given yourself in a veiled attempt to create a bond between yourself and Edward when in reality there isn't anything there at all."

Well, that answers that question.

I think a pen could have dropped anywhere in the school and I would have heard it. Ava definitely would have heard it, but that would just be because of her vampire hearing. Things just sort of went quiet for me at the same time my fists clenched together and I felt like punching the smirk right off of Tanya's satisfied face. I knew she was awful! And here I was giving her the benefit of the doubt!

It was quite difficult, but I managed to keep my voice steady. "I'm sorry, what did you—?"

The bitch cut me off! Why you little! "You heard me. Listen, I have to go. I have to get all of these books put away before school starts. See you guys later." And with that, she was gone.

Ava didn't even bother waiting til Tanya was out of human ear shot. "That bitch!" I agreed wholeheartedly, but I wasn't about to say that out loud. I smacked Ava's arm and tried to motion that Edward was barreling towards us. Oh, God! Did he hear all of that?

Ava didn't notice him until he was right behind her. I certainly did. The look on his face set my heart off faster than a 100 meter dash. Ava groaned when Edward cleared his throat behind her. "What now? Oh, hey Edward. We just talked to your _lovely_ new girl—"

Edward was obviously upset. I only notice this because I've known and practically memorized all of his facial features and body movements, and in general the hunched shoulders and intense eyes usually gave away his extreme unhappiness.

"Would you mind leaving, _Elizabeth_?" Edward had his eyes on me, not Ava. Was this about my 'dream' last night? Was it real after all? "Bella and I need to talk." Oh my damn, it was about the dream. It was real! It was! "_Alone_." Okay, maybe it's not about the dream. He looks much too angry to be talking about a happy make-out session. And what a happy kiss it was…

Oh, crap it. This is about yesterday afternoon. I'd already forgotten that I'd sort of told him off and hopped on a motorcycle with the guy Edward might just want to kill a little more than he wants to kill Victoria.

Ava kept looking back and forth between Edward and me. "I suppose I can just go to class early. I'll see you later, Bella." And now we're alone. Except, of course, for all of the other students who would be witnesses if Edward actually loses it and offs me.

Well, this isn't awkward at all. If Edward could just look at me some other way than like he's about to kill me, it might be a little better. "Hi," I tried. No response. Did he hear the conversation I just had with her? Is that why he's mad? Maybe he's still mad about yesterday. "So…I plan on staying at school for the whole day today." God, what is wrong with him? "Jacob didn't almost wolf out on me once! Isn't that great? No danger at all."

"Bella," oh crap, he's going to yell at me, "Do you have any idea how close I was to following you and that mutt all the way through the border line? To shaking some sense into you after you just jumped on the back of that bike? To breaking the treaty and coming after you? Do you know what that would have meant?"

I swear, I feel like I'm back in first grade. "Umm…I don't know."

Well, that did it.

I really hope Edward doesn't rip his hair out. It would suck if he was bald for the rest of eternity. "Bella, they would've started a war right then and there! And I would have enjoyed every minute of the fight."

"I'm sure you would've…" I said coolly. Apparently my Tanya-induced anger was still in my system. Luckily, that anger mixed with my usual Edward-induced anger caused me to completely block out the vision that I saw. "But, you seem to have ignored the fact that Jacob didn't do anything to hurt me, so there isn't any real need for you to start a war."

"If he'd hurt you—"

I rolled my eyes. This is ridiculous! "He won't! Seriously, there's nothing to worry about. Jacob is as dangerous to me as you are."

The next thing I knew, I was pinned against the nearest wall of the building. Well, I guess Edward's finally snapped. "Bella. You aren't exactly the best judge of what is or isn't dangerous." His eyes burned into mine. Thank goodness he was holding me against the wall, or I probably would have fallen over.

"Well," my voice cracked, "It's not really your place to determine what is and isn't dangerous to me. I made the choice to jump on the back of that bike with all of my senses perfectly in order and with a very clear idea of what is and isn't dangerous to me." And right now I'm in more danger of passing out than I was close to dying or getting hurt yesterday.

Edward looked at me hard for a moment before leaning in even closer to me. Dear God, I'm going to start mega-blushing if he gets too close. "Really? It seemed to me that you were trying to make someone in particular upset by leaving like that."

Yep, there goes that mega-blush. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Edward definitely broke the ex rule of getting much too close to kissing me again. "Are you sure that you weren't trying to make _me_ angry with you?"

My stomach dropped. "I don't know what you mean."

He smiled just a little, but I could tell he was still very angry under that composed surface. "Not even when you called me Eddie before you left?"

Shit, he got me. "Well, I call you Eddie even when I'm not trying to make you mad. I usually only call you Eddie when _I'm_ mad at _you_, so really the whole thing yesterday was me being mad at you." Wait, I didn't want to tell him that! "I mean," Crap it, he made me admit how angry I was at him, and he knew it, "I didn't mean that. I'm not mad at you. I'm not anything at you because I don't care if I make you angry or not. Wait, that still didn't come out right."

He looked so triumphant that he let go of me. I sort of just slumped down on the wall. It's actually quite uncomfortable. Despite my defeated position, I think he should realize by now that I do not enjoy losing. "Don't worry, Bella, I know exactly what you mean." I think Edward's been watching _The Vampire Diaries _or something because his smirk was distinctly like Damon Salvatore's.

Great, now I'm going to cry. Of course, it was just because I was frustrated, but still! And I really just want to slap the smirk right off of him. "No, you don't! You don't know anything, Edward. Especially not about me. You forgot some very important things about me while you were gone." And just because I was really upset about crying, I added, "You were gone for too long."

He flinched at that, but he never backed away from me. If anything, he moved closer to me. "You're wrong." He whispered, literally an inch away from kissing me, which pretty much drove me to the edge. The thing that made it worse was that he didn't _do _anything after that. His finger brushed the edge of my cheek for about a half second and then he started to walk away.

Oh, hell no.

Luckily for me, he wasn't walking at a human pace. I hopped up after him without thinking. I'm not entirely thinking very rationally right now, but then again, when have I ever? "Whoa, whoa, whoa, _whoa! _What are you doing? You can't just say something like that to me and just walk away. Especially with the whole cheek brushing thing! I mean, seriously? Are you _trying _to kill me? Are Victoria's attempts too mediocre for you?"

He was smiling up until I mentioned Victoria. "Bella."

Nice try, Edward, but it's _my _turn to taunt you. I suddenly remembered what Bella did in the book that made Edward forget about how angry he was with her. I slowly wrapped my arms around him and murmured into his neck, "I'm sorry I made you so anxious." He was pretty much frozen solid by my actions. Oh yeah, I've still got it. "Edward?" I looked up at his face just to pout a little more than I already was.

He was still frozen, but his eyes warmed when I leaned in closer. My lips brushed his when I said "You aren't jealous of a little 'ole werewolf, are you?"

Edward must have figured out that I was fishing just as much as he was earlier because he somehow snapped out of my hug-induced trance. He jumped away from me like I had electrocuted him. "Jealous? Me?"

I was the one smirking this time. "Yes. Jealous. _You_."

He was getting good at playing this game. "I don't know what you mean, Bella." I hate it when he uses my own words against me!

Well, two can play at _that _game. "Are you sure you weren't just a tad jealous when I had my arms around Jacob yesterday? I mean, he might be a bit younger than me, but he more than makes up for it with those _fan_tastic abdomen muscles of his…of course, his personality is great too. He's not the one to move on to some red haired-slash-blonde a few weeks after breaking up with his so-called soul-mate." I didn't realize that I was ranting until Edward grabbed my shoulders and gave me a shake.

He might be the one that needs a shake though. "Red! The red shirt…we forgot about the red shirt…He's coming soon. This could be our only chance…"

And here I thought _I _was the crazy one. "Umm, Edward?"

His eyes slid back into focus. "Bella?"

"Can you let go of my shoulders? I think you might be breaking my shoulder blades…" I rubbed my shoulders as Edward started pacing. "You gonna tell me why you standing babbling about a red shirt all of a sudden or do I get three guesses?" Red shirt? Where have I seen a red shirt today?

He threw me a sharp glare, indicating that funny time was over. "What were you planning on doing this weekend while I go hunting?"

What the heck? "Well, since I really don't plan my schedule around you much anymore, I don't know. I guess someone might be sleeping over at my house or I'll probably be at your house helping with the wedding stuff…why?" What could I possibly not know about that has Edward so on edge?

Edward looked positively frantic. "Would you want to do something with me, perhaps? As friends?"

I am so confused. "What's wrong with you, Edward? What's this have to do with a red shirt—?" WAIT, MY VISION! HOLY CRAP, IT'S RILEY! And we're going to catch him! And, for some reason, Edward's not supposed to know about it. Okay, I need to be calm and rational about this. "So, I'm thinking that we should definitely go out this weekend. I mean, God only knows what's going to be on in my bedroom this weekend…so, are you up for it?"

Edward was no longer talking to me. He brushed past me quickly, muttering to himself, "I've got to talk to Alice."

"NO!" It sort of shot out of my mouth without me really wanting it to. Edward looked pretty shocked. God, now I have to cover this up! "I mean you can't talk to Alice right now because she didn't come to school with me today."

"She didn't?" I shook my head. "Why?"

I waved it off like it was no big deal. I hope he won't freak out too much. "Well, there was sort of an incident at my house this morning."

"Are you alright?" He asked, looking me up and down for any sort of injury, I suppose.

"I'm fine…sort of. I just…sort of…_hadapsychicvision…_" I mashed the words together so he couldn't really understand me. Oh, goodness, this was so easy when I told Ava!

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"I _." _Edward either wasn't listening very close or he was in shock.

"Say. That. Again."

Alright, here it goes! "I SAW THE FUTURE THIS MORNING, OKAY? ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?"

* * *

**Tada! That chapter was a lot of Edward and Bella fighting! And Tanya's rearing her butthead-ness. And Alice clearly knows more than she's telling Bella. Oh, and Alec's crazy girlfriend from the last story is coming to town! Me oh my, things are gettting crazy in Forks! **

**I know i'm going really slow, but stay with me and review and i'll be your best friend, promise! :) **

_**Preview for the next chapter:**_

"I understand what you speak of, Miss Swan. I did have a family once myself."

I rolled my eyes. This was not going like I wanted it to, but then again things rarely went the way I wanted them to. "I know you did, and I know you want to make up for what happened to them, but I can't do something like this no matter how much I…dislike…the remaining parts of the Volturi."

"Even after what Aro made you do?" I cringed at the memory of Edward being thrown around the Volturi's lair because of my stubbornness to not give into Aro.

"I don't have it in me, Marcus…"


	7. Chapter 6

**I'm sorry, I'm a rotten updater. I'm just going to face the facts, but I'm already working on the next chapter! I promise :) And now I'm happy because...well, you'll see why I'm happy :) And those people wishing that the Edward/Bella romance (not break up angst) will be back...next chapter...it's quite juicy if I do say so myself! **

**Anyway, enough babble about Eddie and Bella...this chapter has a significant flashback that has to do with Marcus and what he was doing at the Cullen's house at the end of It's STILL NOT BELLA! All of the flashback stuff is in _italics _to set it apart from the other action going on...INCLUDING RILEY! AHHH! **

**Okay, i'm done rambling. Tell me what you think, as always, and I really want to hear some theories about what's coming up! sooooo, w/o anymore adeiu...CHAPTER 6...but first more from our mystery person! anybody completely sure they know who is it? ;)**

* * *

"Come on, Victoria, why shouldn't I be a vampire? It would make all of this easier and then you wouldn't have to be so careful whenever we do this?" They were in the back of the car that Victoria drove down in with Riley, but he was unaware of Riley's existence. Riley was also unaware of his backup's existence, something that Victoria made well sure of.

"Because, darling, when you're turned into a vampire you won't be able to watch the Cullens for me without attracting attention anymore. And I know you want them gone just as much as I do, so stick to the plan." And if her plan went correctly, she would disappear after killing the wretch that was responsible for James' death…

"But the plan involves me waiting until after graduation until I turn." He muttered.

She rolled her eyes, but in the dark he was unable to see it. She grabbed his head and kissed him one more excruciatingly disgusting time, "Just think, that's only in a few more days."

**

* * *

**

This So Is Not An Unhappy Ending!

Well, that was certainly an interesting day. My math and English classes went quite well, but the others were just sort of boring. That was because math and English were the only classes that I actually had alone without a single Cullen or Ava in the room to pester me about my new psychic abilities.

Every other one, though, had been a nightmare. Ever since I had shouted at Edward that I had had a vision, he'd been on my case about what I'd seen, what the vision looked like, if I thought that I'd read Alice's mind instead of having a separate vision, and on and on and on…it was absolutely the most annoying thing I've ever been through.

But, there was one good thing about Edward's doubled attention: Tanya kept sending me and Edward jealous glares all throughout the day. Ava was generally around me and Edward, throwing out questions of her own, so she saw Tanya's glares and threw back some pretty nasty ones herself.

All in all, it was a pretty sucky day.

And when I finally stepped into my room at the end of the day, I knew it was just going to get a whole lot suckier. "Are you seriously going to yell at me about your stupid girlfriend now? Because I honestly don't know how much more of this I can take! You want a solution? FINE! Tell the dumbass to come a week after the stupid fight is supposed to take place and just _leave me alone!_"

If you didn't get it, Alec was leaning against my bedpost when I walked in. To say that I was not in the mood would be a gross understatement. "Actually Bella, I came to see how you were doing."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Liar."

He raised his right hand in the typical boy-scout fashion. "Honest."

I rolled my eyes this time. "Fine, that's what I am. I'm just freaking peachy keen! _And how are you, Alec?_"

"Quite well, actually, seeing as I talked to Britney this afternoon and I convinced her not to come to town until a week or so after the fight supposed to happen."

I really could have punched a wall and I doubt it would have hurt much. "Well, that's great! That's just great. I'm so glad. Now, get out." He looked hurt. "Please."

Like that actually made a difference. "Bella, I hope you don't mind, but I brought a friend along with me that I thought might make you cheer up a little bit."

Another person for me to vent at? What fun! "Really? And who might that be?" My voice was dripping with sarcasm. I really need some chocolate. Just something to take the edge off and…whoa…I feel_ really _tired and…_relaxed_…all of a sudden. I plopped down on the rug. The floor was so cool to the touch…a lot like Edward, actually. Oh, Edward…

I heard Alec laugh, but I was too out of it to even acknowledge that or the new presence in my room suddenly. "What did you do to her, Jasper? I said to calm her down, not make her _pass out_."

I guess the new presence is Jasper. Hey, Jasper! How are you? Can you detect my every emotion right now? Because that's totally awesome! I heard him laugh too. "I did calm her down, but she had so much anger and pent-up frustration that once I drained it out of her, this was what's left. She's actually quite entertaining like this, don't you think?"

"Jasper!" Alec scolded. I wonder how much older Alec is than Jasper is…Alec looks _way _younger, but then again Jasper hardly looks a day over 200. "At least help her get into her right mind. We sort of need her at least able to walk and talk."

Jasper laughed again. "Alright, if you insist." You know, when you hear the guy laugh, it's not that hard to imagine Alice falling in love with him. I bet he'd never date someone else if Alice ever broke up with him! He should talk to Edward and then maybe—whoa, again.

I felt like I just got woken up with a bucket of freezing cold water. Why am I lying down on the floor? There could be germs down here! Or werewolf fur! Gross! "Oh my God! What did I do, pass out? Jasper? When did you get here?"

Jasper whispered something to Alec that sounded a lot like, "I didn't realize I took _that _much out of her. She needs to cut down on the stress…it's going to drive her crazy."

"I heard that!" Jasper looked down at the ground, obviously not expecting me to hear. "I don't know what's going on, but I'd really like to know why you two are in here. I have a lot of stuff to do tonight and I don't even know what to do about the whole psychic thing or about Riley, so don't even ask."

They gave each other a hard look before Jasper piped up and said, "Fine, we won't ask." Suddenly, I was swept up in Jasper's arms and out the window.

I tried to struggle in his arms, but he had me locked up pretty tight. That just made me even angrier than I was in the first place. "HEY! PUT ME DOWN! AND TAKE ME HOME! JASPER, I MEAN IT! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS TAKING ME? I SWEAR TO GOD, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU BOTH! AGAIN!" I felt a sudden expulsion in my general chest area and then Jasper stopped. Like uber abruptly.

And he dropped me! On the forest floor!

I was prepared to chew him out even more, but I was a little frightened for my life. Talk about _If Looks Could Kill_…jeez, he's the one that pulled me out of my room not the other way around! "Just go inside, Bella! Carlisle and Alice and the rest of the family want to talk to you! Okay? God!" He spun on his heel and started pacing back and forth behind the Cullen's house, which was where he stopped. Okay, he needs to work on controlling his emotions…wait a minute!

I grabbed Jasper's shoulders when his pace brought him back in front of me. I locked eyes with him for a second. "Jasper, calm down. There's nothing to be angry about, okay? Just, calm down." I felt that same kind of pulling in my chest, but Jasper didn't change. If anything, I might have made him angrier.

"What did you do?" Jasper's starting to freak me out. He sounded like he was about to slaughter me! Was it actually me who did that? Can I manipulate emotions now too?

"I—I didn't mean to!"

"Bella!" Thankfully, I think, Jasper suddenly slumped to the ground. Wait, can vampires pass out? I mean, seriously, what just happened?

After that, can this day honestly get any weirder?

The voice that interrupted told me that, yes, the day could and would be getting a lot weirder. "Hello, Miss Swan, Mr. Whitlock. I believe everyone is inside waiting for you." What the hell? Marcus was standing like he always does, like his spine has been permanently straightened, with Alec standing next to him looking abashed. Well, at least Alec's presence explains what happened to Jasper.

"Sorry, Bella." He shrugged. "We may have left Volterra, but he's still my master."

"I thought _Britney _was your master." The traitor. He knows I have no desire to talk to Marcus, like ever again! The first time was bad enough…

_"I'll get it." I didn't wait for Alice to tell me who it was. I just knew I had to get out of that room before Edward could say anything, and this was the fastest way._

_"Angel! Emmett!" Alice yelled. They must have been behind me, but I didn't stop. The Cullen's door didn't have a peephole, so I just sort of threw the door open without thinking._

_I wasn't prepared for who was there, though._

_"Marcus? Alec?"_

_"Miss Swan," Marcus looked visibly relieved that it was me who answered the door, but tensed when he saw my two huge protectors, "We need your help." This Marcus looked completely different from the bored, lifeless person I'd seen when we were in Volterra. This one was focused, angry, and, at the moment, a little bit scared of Emmett and Angel's growls. I was too stunned to actually speak, but after a moment Marcus relaxed. "Carlisle, would you mind telling these young gentlemen that I mean Miss Swan no harm?"_

_Carlisle moved past me to shake Marcus' hand and nodded to Emmett and Angel. "Of course, Marcus. We're all just a bit protective of Bella around here. I'm sure you can understand that."_

"_Yes, Miss Swan does seem to be in a great deal of danger at the moment. I would not let her out of my sight if I were young Edward." Yeah, Edward! Wait, why? "She caused quite the uproar in Volterra, which is the cause of my visit. Would you allow me to come inside?"_

_Carlisle was just as thrown by the change in Marcus as I was, but he was way more composed than I was. "Please, do. We were all just watching…an interesting movie." Nice cover, Carlisle! _

_Marcus and Alec kept their eyes on me as Carlisle led them inside where everyone else was watching me too. Which just made me want to shrink so no one could how badly I was blushing! The credits of _New Moon _were still playing on the television screen, which somehow must have caught Marcus' attention. "Kristen Stewart? Is that not the actress who portrays Miss Swan in the Twilight films?"_

_My voice finally decided to come back to me just so I could blurt out. "Oh, dear God! Did Aro tell you about all of that too?"_

_Marcus almost caused me to pee my pants. He snarled, "I became aware of the films on my journey here. Aro told me nothing of them. I have detached myself from him in every way imaginable, except for death. And once I kill him, I can finally be free of him for the rest of eternity." _

_Well, having my voice was nice while it lasted. I managed to squeak out "Oh" before Edward placed himself between me and Marcus. From behind him, I saw Alec move to protect Marcus if Edward should try to attack him. _

"_What does Bella have to do with any of this?" Edward growled back at Marcus. Well, at least I know he's still ready to kill himself for me…but he needs to back away from the nice Volturi leader like now. I put my hand on his shoulder, which seemed to relax him just a little. It just made my heart beat even faster. Just what I need in a room full of vampires! _

_Marcus smiled fondly at me and Edward. "Mr. Cullen, you and Miss Swan share one of the strongest bonds I have ever seen other than the one that led me down this path, so it should be quite simple for you to realize that Miss Swan has _everything _to do with this. Miss Swan has an insurmountable amount of information that could change the world as we know it." Talk about pressure. _

_I saw Edward's jaw set. Great, now he's really mad! Good job Marcus! "I don't want to put Bella in any more danger than we already put her in." Oh sweet Jesus! Not that crap again! _

"_Edward—" I started, but Marcus interrupted me. Okay, if I'm going to speak with him, that whole "I'm better than you because I'm a vampire" thing is not going to fly. _

"_I give you my word, Mr. Cullen, Miss Swan will not be in any danger because of me. I believe what I have to say will actually save her life." Ava and Alice were literally jumping up and down on the other side of the room. I couldn't tell if they were excited or scared because of Marcus. _

_Edward took a deep breath before moving back to my side. I suppose we moved past our petty fight we had during the movie. Two members of the Volturi were enough to do that, I guess. "If she gets hurt…"_

_Wow, Edward's frustrating enough to make _Marcus _roll his eyes. And the dude's been in a semi-comatose state for God knows how long. I'm thinking Edward has more talent in that area than I gave him credit for. "Mr. Cullen, you've seen my thoughts, if you can't see that I mean her no harm then I suppose Alec and I should leave." _

_Edward let out a sigh of relief. But, I had to know what Marcus thought I knew that was so important and what could change the world as we know it. Emmett and Angel were still in body guard mode, so when I ran after Marcus, they went right along with me. _

_This, of course, just made me lose my temper. "Okay, you two need to back the heck up! I am perfectly capable of protecting myself and I don't need you to act like babysitters!" Well, I've started yelling, I might as well keep going. I spun away from a startled Angel and Emmett to Edward, who was looking shocked himself. "And you! If you're going to start on that crap about you being so ridiculously dangerous for me to be around, then you can just stay away from me. Permanently. Because I honestly don't want to hear about how dangerous you are to me anymore." Finally, I turned towards Ava and Alice. "And will you two stop jumping, you look like two kindergarteners getting ready for snack time! Jeez!" _

_Okay, Bella, deep breaths. You don't want to fall over in front of everyone. Plus, now you have Marcus' attention. He was actually smiling at me. "I'm impressed Miss Swan at your spark. You seem like a person who knows what they want." Ha! That's funny! If only he knew I broke up with Edward when we got home from Italy. "I take it that you _do_ wish to speak with me."_

_Deep breath. "Yes, Marcus. Where would you like to talk?" Business-mode-Bella has engaged. _

"_If it is not too much of an imposition on the Cullens, I thought we could speak in the dining area. Carlisle?"_

_Carlisle nodded, but sent a worried look around the room. I didn't even care at this point if anyone was mad at me. I just wanted to know what the heck was going on. "I suppose we can all go on a quick hunt. Bella, if you need us, we're just a call away."_

_But I didn't want to be completely alone with two human blood sucking vampires! "Carlisle, would you mind staying with me?" I saw Edward out of the corner of my eye look especially hurt that I didn't ask him to stay. _

_Carlisle was happy though. I suppose he wanted to know what was going on almost as much as I did. "Of course, Bella. Esme, will you take everyone else out?"_

_Esme smiled reassuringly at me before saying, "Come along, everyone. Good luck, Bella darling." _

_Then we were alone. Even Edward went without a fight. I guess he took what I said to heart. Well, good! I don't want to hear anything else about him being dangerous because, honestly, that crap gets old really fast. Carlisle led us all in the dining room. At least there were even numbers: me and Carlisle versus Marcus and Alec. Marcus began immediately. "I must ask, Miss Swan, how did you know about Didy…Didym…Did…" Poor Marcus, he can't say her name. _

_To be honest, though, I doubt I would be able to say Edward's name if Ava killed him. Wow, I better make sure she doesn't do that. Carlisle looked confused. "Didyme? What about her?"_

_I forgot to fill him on that. Whoopsies! "Aro killed Didyme when she and Marcus were going to leave the Volturi, and Aro never told Marcus. I sort of let the cat out of the bag before we left the Volturi. I should probably apologize about my blunt delivery. I actually just wanted to piss Aro off for what he did to me, but I didn't really think I would cause a rift in the Volturi. I mean, I'm guessing that's why you and Alec left, right?"_

_Alec, who was actually a really cute guy once you looked at him up close and he didn't have the same creepy expression his sister has, looked pretty different from when I last saw him in Italy, too. I sort of blurted he was in love with that Britney girl—who will not stop e-mailing me about him and everything else all the time—and he looked pretty much frozen when we ran out of there. Now, he actually had a smile on his face and his eyes weren't completely glazed over. "I came for another reason, as well as to assist Marcus: are you still in contact with the young girl that you rescued from Volterra?"_

_I knew he was in love with her! I totally called it! Oh, yeah! I smirked at him. "Oh, yeah, Britney and I are BFFs!" Okay, so from the look Alec's sending me, I can guess he doesn't know what a BFF even is. "In short, yes, I am in contact with her. Was I correct in my assumption before about you having certain feelings for her?"_

_If only vampires could blush, the world would be a far less complicated place. "There's just something about her…" Marcus gave Alec a sharp look, "But I am here for Marcus and his plans primarily." _

_Suck up. _

_Marcus took control of the conversation. You know, if Aro didn't have the vampire that made everyone loyal to him, Marcus could totally stage a coup and just run the Volturi himself. "Your apology, Miss Swan, I assure you is not needed. You have set me free. Once I heard the truth, I demanded Aro explain, but all he told me were more lies. Lies about the Cullens, about you, and about Didyme." Whoa, he said her name. He must be pissed. "I felt like I'd been reawakened for the first time in a millennium, and I could finally see the truth that everything Aro did was a lie. He constantly had Chelsea connect the entire guard to him, as well as Caius and myself. I attempted to attack him for everything he had _ever _done, but I was forced back to my quarters by the guard. Alec came later and we left Volterra before Aro knew we were gone."_

_Wahoo! Is it bad that I'm happy my wife bomb caused an entire riot in the room? I'm just happy that Marcus isn't "dead" at the moment. _

_Carlisle is definitely beside himself hearing how I may or may not have torn his old family apart. "But, how could you know something like this, Bella? It was never mentioned in the books, was it?"_

_Marcus snapped out of his angry rage for a moment and looked at me pointedly. "Did you find this information in a book?"_

_Here we go…again! "Well, sort of. You see, there's something you have to understand first: my name isn't actually Isabella Swan. Before I moved to Forks, my name was Sarah Stiles. When I was back home, I was very interested in a book series called _Twilight_ which takes place in Forks, hence the reason I jumped on moving here. My first day in high school and everyone seemed to believe that my name was Bella, which freaked me out to say the least. The _Twilight Saga _is about a girl named Bella Swan, who meets a family of vampires, most importantly, Edward Cullen. She and Edward sort of fall in love and then there's a sequel when he leaves her and they end up visiting the Volturi. So, when I came here, I unintentionally joined the story as Bella."_

_Carlisle looked fascinated as he always does when I tell my story and Marcus looked intrigued as well. "I see. So you had prior knowledge to the Volturi's existence before your journey to Volterra?"_

"_Yep. The author also came out with a background story of the Volturi, which talked about you…and Aro…and your wife." _

"_But how does she know all of this?"_

"_No idea." I doubt Stephanie Meyer even knows that her story freaking came to life, either! "But somehow Aro knew about the books as well and kept their existence a secret from you and Caius." _

_Marcus took me totally by surprise and grabbed both of my hands. "Miss Swan, or Stiles as may be the case, I came here to learn the truth, which you have graciously given to me. Now I have another request to make of you. I heard of the spectacle you caused in the lobby before you left Volterra, which intrigued me even more so than your knowledge of my past. I believe you could be an incredible leader of the Volturi in the future with me and your Edward at your side."_

_HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! IS HE ISANE? "WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! I am most definitely not looking to have anything to do with the Volturi now or ever in the future no matter who's with me. Besides, it's pretty much impossible to beat Aro and I really don't have a hankering to try." _

_Carlisle, thank God, took my side. "Marcus, I appreciate your idea, but Bella is still very young. She deserves to live her life, not die trying to help serve your vengeance." _

_Marcus could not stop, though. "Carlisle! Surely you've seen the potential in her. She could be essential in making our world a much more peaceful one. And she would not be helping me to serve my vengeance: I _will _avenge her on my own. But I'm sure Miss Swan has her own reasons to kill Aro, as we all do." Okay, he's got me there, but I will never run the vampire world. I'm only eighteen for God's sake! "Think about my offer, Miss Swan, please. I need to find an opportune time to kill Aro, and I'm sure you know when that could be. And, until you make your decision, know that Alec and I will be around town to serve you in any way we can."_

_Oh, yeah, that offer sounds great…_

Needless to say, I wasn't in any mood to be around Marcus today. It's amazing that I was ever able to become friends with Alec after that day, but somehow the lovable idiot made his way into my heart just like every other vampire that comes rushing for help when their true loves are in danger. Never mind, that's just Alec.

"And why is everyone waiting inside for me?"

Marcus held out his arm for me to take, which promptly caused me to fold mine. Take that, Mr. I'm Second Place on the Creepy Scale Behind Aro! "You are essential to Miss Alice's plan for this evening."

Is that what Alice did all day instead of coming to school? I should have known it had nothing to do with my incredible new powers. "Her plan?"

"Were you aware, Miss Swan, that someone is breaking into your room at this very moment?"

Damn it, now I have to take care of this. "Well, actually I was aware that I would have an invader in my room and that there is some sort of plan that to catch him." I enjoy watching people's jaws drop way too much. "Yeah, that's right. I already know about that. And do you know how? I saw the future this morning. And do you know how I did that? I HAVE NO IDEA!"

Ava and Angel came running outside the second I started shrieking at Marcus who was definitely reconsidering his offer to me about being in charge of the Volturi after that little freak out. "Bella? Was that you screamin' out here? You okay?" Well, actually Angel I'm just freaking out like normal.

Ava didn't even bother showing sympathy. "Get your ass inside right now before Riley gets away!"

I swiveled on her, but something in her expression told me not to voice my opinion. "Fine…stupid freaking vampires think they do whatever they want…" I muttered the whole walk up to the house. Everyone sans Edward, Tanya, and Carlisle were standing around in the living room looking ready to kick some serious butt.

Especially Emmett. He was practically jumping off the wall. "Did you hear what we're going to do, Bella? Did you? Did you? Did you?"

Oh, sweet Jesus. "Ava, make him stop."

She wouldn't stop smirking at Emmett. "But it's just so funny."

Emmett literally started jumping up and down next to me. This is going to get old _really _fast if Ava doesn't make him stop. "Bella, we're going to get stupid head who wants your shirt!"

I summoned my inner mother and tried not to laugh. "I know, Emmett. Now, listen to me. This very bad boy wants to kill me and you and the rest of our family. I need you to whip his butt for me and bring him back here so I can talk to him, okay?" Okay, so I sounded like I was talking to a baby, but really it's entirely Ava's fault!

That evil witch decided to snap Emmett out of her little stupor when I was halfway through my lecture. "Bella, why are you talking like that?"

"Oh, forget it! Where's Edward?"

Alice took charge of the room immediately. "Alright, here's what we're going to do. Ava, Angel, Rosalie, Emmett and I are going to go back to the house first. Seth made sure that no one was home when I told him what was going on, so we don't have to worry about making too much noise. I'm not really sure where Jasper is right now, but he's supposed to be helping us as well. Bella, you can drive back to your house with one of our cars, alright? You just need to be around the house in case someone shows up while we're getting Riley out."

"What are you planning on doing with him, Alice? I kind of wanted to talk some sense into him or we could use him as a spy, did you think of that?"

Alice smiled her all-knowing smile. "Of course, Bella. That was my plan from the beginning."

Alright, that sets up the vision I had earlier except for one thing. "Okay…but what about Edward? Where is he anyway?"

Everyone looked awkward for a moment, but Esme was kind enough to inform me of my ex's whereabouts. "Edward was opposed to the idea of keeping Riley…alive. He wanted him to be destroyed because he thinks that Riley would be too dangerous for you to be around especially since he's been with Victoria for the past year."

I have a bad feeling about this. "So, where is he?"

"Tanya took him hunting a ways away from here. We don't think he knows what we're planning on doing, but if he does come…well, we'll figure that one out later." Meaning, I'll be dealing with it like in my vision. Alice obviously knows something is going to happen because now she won't look me in the eye.

Oh, I'll get her for this.

Less than a half hour later, I was sitting in Alice's porshe in my driveway. I don't want to go inside mainly because I have the feeling Edward will be bursting in the house soon enough and I'll have to do something about it.

I can't! I won't! I don't want to! What if I have to hold him back? I couldn't see what was happening to me in my vision, so who's to tell me that I won't have to hold him back from breaking my door down? If that happens, Edward's face might be within inches of mine, which means his eyes will be locked with mine and I will not be able to think clearly. What if I start kissing him?

Argh! Just go inside, and hopefully Edward won't come. I mean, Alice's visions are subjective and that means it might not happen. Which, it won't. Because Alice told me that Edward doesn't know that Riley will be getting caught today.

"Okay, Bella, stop freaking out. All you have to do is sit in front of the door until they have Riley out of your room and you can write the speech for graduation."

Wow, I'm shaking. It took me until I'm about to walk inside of my own house to realize that I'm scared to death of Riley being in my room. I mean, it's one thing for Edward when he used to come inside because I pretty much just made out with him until I fell asleep, but Riley is just being a creeper! And I wore that red shirt when I was working out!

I guess this is why I need to have a little chat with Riley. The only thing I wanted to tell him before this was about Victoria being a liar, but now we're going to have to talk about personal boundaries. And I suppose Ava will have to take away his craving for human blood too and, of course, we have to get him to switch to our side of the fight.

Well, walking inside the house isn't giving me any clues as to what is or has happened upstairs. I told them I didn't want Seth or Leah to be able to figure out that there'd been a stranger in the house, so they were trying to catch Riley within the confines of my bedroom. And they'd better not be tearing things up either!

I finally got upstairs and sat against my closed door, listening intently to what was going on. "GET OFF OF ME!" A male voice that I definitely did not recognize screamed from inside my room.

Well, it seems that they've caught him. A knock on the door jolted me into a standing position, and suddenly Emmett's voice vibrated through the door, "We've got him, Bella. But I wouldn't come inside here yet, he's putting up a little bit of a fight."

That's certainly new news! I won't even bother rolling my eyes since Emmett can't see it. Okay, since all of that went so swimmingly, maybe Edward won't come at all and the rest of my night can just be filled with quality time with my speech.

Suddenly, the door downstairs slammed open so loud, I thought for a second that someone had broken it off its hinges. And, since the person was standing face to face with me a half second later, I wouldn't be surprised if the door was in splinters. "Hey, Edward! What's up?"

He was way beyond pissed. "Bella, what's going on? I know Alice has something planned for that Biers kid!" He made a move to go inside my room, which made me spring over so that I was between Edward and the door, and I was right before about being much too close to Edward. If I wasn't gripping the siding so hard, I would have fallen over just from the close proximity of Edward.

"Edward, stop!" Why did he have to be so damn good looking? I thumped my head against the door quickly to un-befuddle some of my thoughts before talking. "You can't go in there…I've got bras all over the floor…and I think Seth might be making out with someone in there!" Whoa, déjà vu.

He didn't buy it for a second. "Is that what all the noise in there is?"

"It's probably his first time." Just keep smiling, Bella, and maybe you won't get too distracted by his lips. Oh, screw it, I really want to kiss him.

Edward's eyes narrowed at me. Oh, God please don't try to push past me! We both know he's stronger than I am, but don't use that against me! "Bella, they might leave Riley alive, you have to let me in—" He did, the butt head, use his strength the push the door open and tried to move past me.

I saw Alice out of the corner of my eye move to push the rest of the boys out of my window, so I did the one thing that my body's practically been screaming for me to do since Edward stepped in the house.

I grabbed his coat so that we were face to face, and slammed my lips against his.

* * *

**Ahh, Cliffhanger...well, a half one since I'll just tell you now that that kiss is just going to get more intense...Edward is quite the kisser :) **

**Anywho! Go review! Whoa...that rhymed.**

_**Preview for the next chapter:**_

_**Note about preview: If you watch any parodies on youtube, you might recognize some of the preview's dialouge from Hillywood's Parody of Eclipse...and if you don't recognize it, then you should look up that parody because it is one of the funniest things I've ever watched. END NOTE. **_

"She's Team Edward!" _Oh._

"She's Team Jacob!" _My._

"She loves me." _God._

"I'm hotter!" _They're._

"I'm cooler!" _Both._

"You suck!" _Total._

"You stink! Plus, I'm buff!" _And complete._

"Well, at least I have chest hair!" _IDIOTS!_

I have _got_ to stop letting them watch Twilight parodies…"Alright, _that's enough_! You two are acting like two-year-olds right now! I am not on _any _team, let alone one of yours! If anything, I am Team ME! So, if you guys don't stop this childish little game, I will be forced to beat the crap out of both of you! Understand?"


	8. Chapter 7

**Hello, everyone. I can only apologize for my lack of updates...to be honest I was a little lost with the story and am still a confused how i'm going to work the story the way I want. I think this chapter gets it more on track to where I want it to be, and hopefully I can get things back up and running now that high school is over with ! **

**I hope you like it. It's literally been six months in the working...hey, if you want to peek, EDWARD AND BELLA ARE MAKING OUT! :O does this mean they're back together? read to find out! oh yeah, and you'll be finding out who the mystery person is quite soon! **

* * *

"Where _is _he? He was supposed to be back an hour ago!" If Riley didn't come soon, she would be forced to take her backup back to Seattle with her. He was passed out on the seat of her car by no fault of her own. She always made sure of that.

"He said he would be right behind me." Diego was sitting in the front seat with her. When he came running back when Riley was supposed to, Diego knocked the poor boy out without meaning to. Luckily he had fed before coming here or there may have been a problem with him being inside the car with Riley's backup.

Of course, Diego had no idea who the boy was or what his purpose was. Diego was on the fast track to being destroyed, but after his service to her project tonight he might stay alive. Plus, Bree would certainly be happy that her mate would not be destroyed.

She glanced back at the boy passed out in the seat and sighed at what she was now forced to do. "_You_, at least, have done well. Riley will have to find his way back if he's still alive." With that, she peeled down the road before the Cullens could catch her trail.

* * *

I So Do Not Have a Temper!

Regret slammed inside my head the same moment I slammed myself against Edward. It wasn't right this way; I didn't know why, but it didn't feel right. I pulled away as fast as I could. "Oh my God, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. It was more that I didn't know what else I could do to stop you." I was babbling, but Edward didn't seem to care. He just kept staring. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he said as he reached for me again.

"No, Edward. Don't—!" Edward's lips cut me off. Tanya obviously has not been giving Edward enough attention. If she had been paying better attention to him, I doubt he would be kissing me. His hands probed around my neck, through my hair, up my arms, and everywhere else imaginable. Lucky for me, he wore a button down shirt so it didn't take much strength or much distraction to rip it open.

Hopefully Alice got everyone out of my bedroom because we are going in there. I pushed, or slammed pretty much, the door open and pulled Edward inside with me.

I don't think my heart has raced this much ever since we were in Volterra. I refused to even pay attention to the fact that we are supposed to be broken up and friends, and that Edward's supposed to be with Tanya right now, or that there was just a fight in my bedroom. The tremors I felt sliding down every inch of my skin felt inexplicably right.

Pretty soon we were making out on my bed like we always did before we broke up. To say that I'm not deliriously happy would be a lie of massive proportions.

Sadly my dizzying happiness was interrupted when Edward pulled away out of nowhere. "Seth was in here?" Oh, no, I am not stopping now. I pulled his collar so he was up against me again, but he broke away again. "Bella, please. Please tell me the truth."

Man! How can I resist him when he sounds so tortured? Plus, he's using the puppy dog eyes. "Fine, Alice and the rest of the gang were picking up Riley in here. We need him alive, though, so I can talk some sense into him."

Edward moved around my room at lightning speed until he reached my clothes hamper where my red shirt was still safely sitting inside. "I already knew that…his thoughts were loud enough when they were pulling him out the window. But, I don't care about that right now."

Does that mean he's thinking about me instead? "Oh, okay! You could come back over here and kiss me again—" I hopped off of my bed to see what he was actually looking at since it seemed to hold some sort of significance.

He was holding another one of my t-shirts in his hand, smelling it. I wasn't kidding when I said those things were gross. They were in the dirty laundry for goodness sake! "No, Bella, what I meant to say was that Riley isn't the biggest threat now that they've caught him."

Alright, now I'm confused. "What do you mean?"

"There was someone else in here besides Riley."

And he's supposed to be the smart one… "Well, yeah…I think it was Emmett, Jasper, Angel, Ava, Alice, and Rosalie too. Alec's been in here quite a bit as well."

Edward dropped my shirt and looked me straight in the eye. Hey, why does he look hurt? "Alec's been in here?"

Is he jealous? Really? If he wasn't being ridiculous, I would jump up and down because he's jealous! If he's jealous that means he still loves me even if he's with Tanya! There's still a huge chance that I can steal him back from her! Okay, I have to play it cool. "Oh, you know, every once in a while when I'm bored or…lonely."

Yep, I went there. Hopefully Alec won't ever hear about this because that would just be awkward. Edward scared me for a second by grabbing my hands. "I thought he and that girl you met on the plane in Italy were together."

Crap it! Crap it! Crap it! "Well…they are…what I meant when I said Alec came over here was that we talk about how we're both lonely sometimes because Britney's not here for Alec yet and well, I'm just sort of…" I am babbling like an idiot and Edward totally caught my bluff.

He smiled his crooked smile at me and started to lean in to kiss me again, but right as his lips brushed mine, my cell phone blared out in my pocket. _RA RA AH AH AH! ROMA-ROMAMA! GAGA, OH LA LA! WANT YOUR BAD ROMANCE! _

"I should get that," I whispered against his lips. How I am able to do that without passing out, I have no idea. I've got tingles running up and down every inch of my skin. Remind me, why did I break up with him?

"Let it go to voicemail." Edward lips came down on mine, silencing all my thoughts of answering my phone. It's nice to know that I've gotten over that whole 'freak out' thing whenever he kisses me, except I still ran my hands through his unruly hair and keep pushing myself closer and closer until he would usually push me away, but he only tugged me closer.

Edward's phone started ringing, but his ringtone was boring. It just sounded like a bunch of bells going off. Edward started to pull away, but I grabbed his collar again and pushed him down on my bed. "Voicemail…" If I can't answer mine, he won't answer his.

Edward pulled away when I absentmindedly started unbuttoning his button down shirt. Well, unbuttoning the buttons that I hadn't previously ripped off. "Bella, we can't."

"I know." That's not going to stop me, Edward. "Shut up and kiss me."

Wow, for once, he actually listened to me.

* * *

"_Bella…Bella…Bella…Bella… Bella…Bella…Bella…Bella… Bella…Bella…Bella…Bella…_" I couldn't tell if it was an actual person whispering my name, or if my subconscious was so filled with people I knew I had to take care of that my brain was starting to melt.

To be honest, I hoped it was the former, just so I could fix whatever current problem commanded my attention. Or, if I was really lucky, I could just be hallucinating and I could keep sleeping for a while longer. But, as I felt a cold hand brush across my cheek, I shot up into a sitting position.

_Edward_! Both my mind and my mouth shouted. Oh my God, what did we do last night? I couldn't really remember, I was too caught up in happy endorphins! Everything was so foggy…but there's no way I actually did anything last night. I wouldn't do that…okay, I would, but not with everything else going on. I fully expected my first time to be a romantic and beautiful thing…not something I can't even remember!

Edward chuckled at my outburst. "Yes, it would be me. Are you okay?"

No, I am most certainly not okay. I am freaking out! "Yeah, I'm good." Crap it, awkward silence. "So…what exactly happened last night? I don't really remember all that well…I mean, there was kissing and ripping, but I don't know what else…"

Edward shifted nervously in the chair he must have found. "Well, I'm not really sure how to describe it…we…well, we…"

"We what?" I demanded. OH, MY GOD! EDWARD AND I…DID SOMETHING? What happened to the prude I know and love?

"Calm down, Bella. We just kissed. I was just trying to make you nervous." He threw me one of his crooked smiles, but I was not going to take that. I hopped out of bed, and smacked the back of his head before strutting over to my desk where my phone is still sitting from the night before. Something that I actually do remember was that my phone, and Edward's, kept ringing but we both ignored them.

"So, who called you over and over last night?" Edward asked me. Thank God he didn't notice me freeze when I saw who it was. Edward's tone was of casual curiosity, but I was legitimately having a freak out inside. My missed calls list was entirely comprised of Jacob's number, and Jacob is not one to be ignored when something important is happening.

Which only means one thing.

The doorbell rang downstairs. Seriously? What time is it? Oh, God, how long was I asleep? If it's like four in the morning, I will _kill _Jacob without a second thought. "Bella? What is it? What's wrong?" Ah, so Edward finally noticed my panic.

"I'll be right back." I told him without much emotion. I just was not looking forward to what I thought was about to happen. Or, at least, it happened in the movie! "You know, it might be a good idea if you stayed in here." Please don't come. I don't want to witness the death of Jacob or Edward. I seriously don't know which one would be victorious in a fight. It's a frightening thing to think about.

I flew down the stairs before Edward had a chance to talk me into letting him come with me. Hopefully, he would listen to me since he did such a good job of it last night.

My instinct about Jacob was right, and lucky for him, the sun was already pretty high in the sky. He was also shirtless, which lowered the odds of me killing him exponentially. "Hello, Jacob. What's going on? What did I do this time that warranted such an early visit?"

Jacob was beyond angry. Although he softened a little when he saw it was me opening the door, he was still pretty angry overall. "Your house reeks of vampire and you're actually wondering _why _I'm here?"

"Well, Jake, my house seems to always reek of vampire especially when ninety percent of my friends are vampires." Jacob narrowed his eyes at me. Apparently he wasn't up to bantering with me today. "Alright, fine! You came because you knew about Riley breaking into my room. Well, no worries! The Cullens dutifully caught him and he's waiting for me to interrogate him. So, I think you should run along home now before—"

Edward's voice came from right behind me. "Bella?"

I feel a headache coming on. "…_this _happened…"

Edward's hand somehow ended up on my shoulder, despite the fact that whenever he's around Jacob he tends to clench whatever he's holding onto. My shoulder may be in trouble here…"Jacob? What are you doing here?" Yep, I'm feeling the clench!

"I could ask you the same thing, bloodsucker."

I really wish now was one of those moments when I could read everyone's minds. It would have helped if I could tell how Edward went from practically snarling to some sort of snarky grin. "As a matter of fact, I've been here all night. Bella and I were actually—"

It didn't take mind-reading to figure out where he was going with that statement. "Just studying for our finals! We've got a lot coming soon, you know. Plus, Edward wanted to protect me in case someone else tried to break into my room. Isn't that right, Edward?" Edward stood perplexed and a tiny bit hurt for a moment before mutely nodding. I let out a sigh of relief before turning back to Jacob. "So, Jake, you never did mention why you were here."

Jacob hadn't calmed down at all. "I'm here because I called you probably forty times last night, but you never answered! I thought some leech had sucked you dry!"

"Well, as you can tell, I'm perfectly healthy and not dry. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around so—" As I was trying to shut the door and claim a small victory for stopping a fight between Jacob and Edward, Jacob's hand shot out and blocked me. Grr…

"Hang on, Bells!" Damn it. "I read the book you gave me, remember? I thought I would run up to your room and smell around to get the scent of your bloodsucker intruder just in case he comes around again."

I gave him my best dead-pan look. "Jacob, we caught him. I'm going to go question him. He won't be running around here anymore. So there's really no need for you to go anywhere near my—"

"Actually, Jacob, I think you should go take a sniff around the room." Edward's _agreeing _with Jacob? I think I'm having a stroke. Or at least a brain aneurism. "Last night, I thought I picked up more than one strange scent in her room, but Bella didn't _let_ me investigate further." Very funny, Edward. "Perhaps you could?"

"Sure sure!" Jacob and Edward strode up the staircase together, leaving a stunned me standing in the doorway. Since when did Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb get along? I thought they were supposed to be magnets, never coming together without massive amounts of force behind them…

"Bella!" They both called me at the same time.

"Coming…" I don't really know why I was so down. Maybe I wasn't actually down, I was more…shell-shocked. Jacob and Edward working together and they're not constantly making veiled threats to one another? It's unprecedented and unheard of, but it's undeniably a good thing. This is what I've been working towards and it will hopefully make my life immensely easier.

My two super sleuths were sniffing everything (and, grossly enough, I do mean everything) until Edward's head perked up when he picked up one of my shirts. "Here it is. This is the scent I was talking about." He held it out to Jacob, who sniffed it studiously."Can you tell the difference between that and the scent in the rest of the room?"

"I think so…you're saying there was more than one vampire in here?"

I couldn't help but to roll my eyes. "There's been approximately ten vampires in here. I think you two are making a mountain out of a mole hill. We caught the guy who was in here. It's over and done with and I personally want to go speak to this deluded individual right away so that we can get a move on with his rehabilitation to the side of the light!"

My wish was overlooked in favor of Jacob and Edward rambling over who they think could have broken in. Unfortunately for the momentary peace that existed between them, their speculations started an argument.

"It has to be the Volturi, you idiot! THEY'RE THE ONLY PEOPLE IN THE BOOK IT COULD BE!" Jacob's argument revolved around the fact that the 'world's creepiest leech' knew about the books and could have taken Victoria's example to heart and used our preoccupation with Riley and Victoria as the perfect time to spy on us.

"OR VICTORIA COULD HAVE SENT TWO SEPARATE PEOPLE IN CASE OUR PSYCHIC SAW THE FIRST ONE COMING! THINK IT THROUGH, MUTT!" Edward seemed to think that Victoria was devious enough to send someone other than just Riley to do her dirty work…which I'm more inclined to believe as I've scared more than a few of the Volturi members into staying away from me on pain of their second and final death. But then again, Jane hasn't gotten it through her scary little head that I _will _hurt her if she threatens me, Edward, or pretty much any other person I care about ever again. She could have easily broken in my room, but everyone would have recognized her scent.

Jacob's shaking was so noticeable at this point that I thought he would be the second werewolf to literally wolf out in my bedroom, but the first with a vampire in the room. Before he could explode I interjected, "Alrighty then! Boys, I think it's high time we took this little convo outside."

While they may have followed my instructions to follow me outside—where I was planning to jump in my truck and hightail it to the Cullen's house so I could finally talk to Riley and get the full story—Edward and Jacob's argument seemed to have changed in subject matter while walking down the stairs.

"She's Team Edward!" _Oh._

"She's Team Jacob!" _My._

"She loves me." _God._

"I'm hotter!" _They're._

"I'm cooler!" _Both._

"You suck!" _Total._

"You stink! Plus, I'm buff!" _And complete._

"Well, at least I have chest hair!" _IDIOTS!_

I have got to stop letting them watch Twilight parodies…"Alright, _that's enough_! You two are acting like two-year-olds right now! I am not on any team, let alone one of yours! If anything, I am Team ME! So, if you guys don't stop this childish little game, I will be forced to beat the crap out of both of you! Understand?"

Jacob looked like I'd tasered him for a moment before busting out laughing, while Edward just looked at me with a small amount of admiration mixed in with fear. "Well, I'm sure Jacob will agree that neither of us would want you to quote 'beat the crap' out of us."

Jacob was laughing so hard at this point he was rolling on the ground, which just pissed me off further. "Jacob, if you don't shut up I will go find a baseball bat and hit you with it until you're black and blue!"

Edward chuckled at this. "Actually, Bella, Jacob's already Black!" Jacob started gasping for air after laughing at this.

I couldn't take anymore. I just ran to my truck, hopped in, and took off high speed in the direction of the Cullen's house. More than once, I thought I saw a very light blur next to my car. Each time this happened I muttered something along on the lines, "Edward Cullen, if you even try to get near my car, I will plow you over with it." I think the blur got the message. Whatever romantic feelings I had for Edward last night and this morning were definitely gone at this point. Even if that little spat with Jacob actually made me feel a bit of those stirrings, they were pushed away once I realized that neither Jacob nor Edward were mature enough to act like adults even when my life very well might be in danger. But, then again, that was the first time I'd ever seen Jacob and Edward actually laugh together and work together without looking like they wanted to kill each other…other than that argument. And, really, it could have been worse. Jacob could have made out with me or something in front of Edward, which would have resulted in fighting and someone's death probably.

In any case, I would not be speaking to either Jacob or Edward until they were ready to be serious about the fact that we were making progress with the whole 'avoid the epic fight at any cost' plan. And I most definitely wouldn't be talking to Edward about last night…ever. I'm still not quite sure what that was, what caused it, or what to do about it. Well, actually that last one was a lie. I know exactly what I'm going to do about it right now: I'm going to ignore it while I question the crap out of Riley.

* * *

Alice and Ava greeted me before I even stepped inside the Cullen's house. "Where is he?"

They both looked crumpled and worn out, which is something I've never seen on Alice and I have to say it doesn't suit her at all. "He's upstairs in Edward's room. I thought it would be fitting that Riley tear his room to shreds." She may have been tired, but I still caught a bit of a smile peeking out.

"And he tore Edward's room up because…"

Ava answered for me while Alice plopped down on the Cullen's couch. "Because he's a crazy psychopath who needs serious psychological help!"

I nodded because, well, I didn't know what else to do. "That's certainly a reason."

Alice just shook her head. I don't think she'd even done her hair this morning. "Riley's upset because we caught him, and he's actually a lot stronger than he looks. Emmett and Jasper have had a very difficult time restraining him, despite Emmett using brute force and Jasper using his abilities. Carlisle and Esme tried talking to him a little while ago when he got him slightly calmed down, but the sight of them together just set him off about letting him go to Victoria again, so we've been pretty busy." Alice got a little glint in her eyes, but I couldn't tell if it was evil or happy. "Although, I think it's sufficed to say that you've been a little busy yourself, Bella."

Ah, so she saw me and Edward. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think you do! Eddie and Bella sitting in her room, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Obviously, Alice had kept the secret of my rendezvous with Edward if Ava's reaction was any indication. "WHAT? When did this happen? Why haven't either of you told me? Does this mean you're back together? DOES THIS MEAN TANYA CAN FINALLY GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR HOUSE?"

I feel bad for Ava. I really do. She wanted Tanya gone really badly, but I was just in no mood for Edward or Tanya talk today. "Sorry, Ava, I cannot answer any of those questions without a lawyer present."

Alice piped up. "Jasper got his degree in Law from Harvard a while ago!"

Good God, are the Cullens really that good at everything? "Of course he did, but I don't care. I plead the fifth, and I'm going to go talk to Riley now if that's not too much of an imposition."

Ava just groaned. Alice was a bit more obliging and led me upstairs to the room I knew oh so well. "Be careful, okay? I'd really rather not have to clean Bella off the windows, and I'm sure Edward would be very upset if his kissing buddy got herself killed by an out-of-control vampire."

"Gee, thanks for your concern."

"Seriously, Bella, be careful. Edward has to apologize to you later for something he and the damn werewolf did together that I _could not see_, but I assume it was something you're very angry about and that Edward will have to beg you to talk to him again."

Just the memory of those two laughing at me at my apparent weakness makes me angry enough to punch the wall, but I'd rather wait to break my hand on Jacob's face than waste it on the wall. "You assume correctly. Where is your brother now, anyway? I thought he was following me here."

"Oh, he was, but he feels guilty about picking on you now. He doesn't want to come up here just yet without giving you time to cool off and talk a little to Riley."

"You got all that from a vision?" That seemed a little much even for Alice.

She smiled. "No, he's downstairs crying to Ava." We both rolled our eyes. "Again, be careful. I'll be watching!"

Even though she flitted away, I called to her, "I hope you'll be showering!" I thought I heard her laughing downstairs, but I pushed those thoughts away. I had to focus. I had to be in complete control. I knocked on the door before going in. I didn't want to be ambushed in case Jasper or Emmett didn't have control of our little friend. "Hey guys? Can I come in for a moment?"

Jasper opened the door. "Hello, Bella. Interested in talking to our guest?"

I gave Jasper a huge smile mainly because I still felt bad about Alec incapacitating him because of me the last time I saw him. "Very interested. Is it safe?"

"Safe is a relative term around here, but yes, it should be safe enough for you to come in as long as you don't mention the dreaded V-word." I'm quite sure there will be many mentions of the dreaded V-word, but I'll let Jasper feel secure for the moment. Luckily he can't read my mind, he just feels feelings, and I feel relatively calm. Well, as calm as one would be facing a vampire who's ready to kill you after another vampire manipulated him into thinking that I was the enemy.

Riley was seating in one of Edward's many seats in his room with Emmett glaring at him menacingly as if daring him to try to attack. I had every faith that Emmett would keep him from killing me. At least, I hope Emmett keeps him from doing that. "Hello, Riley. Sorry about your current digs, but I guess you know why you're here."

Riley, identical to the man who played him in the movie, looked up at me with his vibrant red eyes. He seemed to realize I was human once I spoke to him, and surprised me by looking, well, surprised. "You're the pet!"

Emmett burst out laughing, but stopped immediately as soon as I glared at him. "You shouldn't have said that…"

Oh. My. God. Riley's still a young vampire, but he already has that vampire prejudice against humans being food or pets. I tried not to take it to heart, though. "I am not a pet. I am a girlfriend of the Cullens." I didn't really mean to say that, but I saw Emmett and Jasper exchange looks after I did. "Well, not technically anymore, but we're all friends here. Equals, despite the fact that I'm not the same as them." _Yet_, I added mentally.

Riley still looked confused. I have that effect on people whenever I bring up my relationship issues. "Is that why the Cullens retaliate whenever someone feeds on a human in this area?"

Now it was my turn to be confused. "Retaliate? Who told you that?"

"Victoria! That's why we have the new—" Riley stopped talking. I guess he realized what exactly he was about to reveal.

Jasper jumped in at this point. "The newborns? Victoria's using the newborns so you can come after us instead of us coming after you. But, Riley, haven't you noticed that we've never taken up anything against you despite the fact that those newborns are causing a world-wide spectacle of themselves?"

Riley started talking to himself. "I _told _Victoria she was wrong. That her friend was wrong."

"What friend?"

"Laurent." Riley said offhand. He was still trying to figure out what Jasper had told him, but I wasn't about to lose him to his thoughts.

Here's where the grilling comes in. "Are you sure she didn't say James?"

Riley looked confused again. "James? No, Victoria never mentioned a James. Who's James?"

I looked to Jasper for confirmation of whether or not I should bring up the subject I was aiming for. He shook his head frantically at me, but that wasn't what I wanted to see so I went with it anyway. "James is Victoria's mate."

Riley looked more confused than ever as Jasper not-so-discreetly slapped his forehead. "Her mate? No, that's not right. I'm her ma—"

"Yeah, Riley, you might _think _that, but trust me I know differently. Allow me to tell you a story." He was still confused, but he nodded anyway. I'm starting to not mind Riley. He's actually quite agreeable. "Once upon a time there was a human girl named Bella. That's my name, by the way. Anyway, once upon a time this human girl named Bella moved to a little town named Forks and met this very nice vampire named Edward. She and Edward fell in love because they were soul mates, and one day Edward took Bella to a lovely game of vampire baseball. While Bella watched Edward and his amazing family play baseball, they were interrupted by a group of three nomadic vampires: James, Laurent, and Victoria. These three vampires liked to eat people instead of animals like Edward and his family did. Unfortunately, James went a little psycho for Bella's blood and started to hunt her. He actually caught her a little later on, but Edward and his family rescued her from the evil James and killed him before he could kill Bella. Now, James actually had a psycho girlfriend who was his soul mate named Victoria who went more than a little psycho because Edward's family had killed the person she loved most in the world. The fact that they killed him was a reason to be upset, but she took on a personal vendetta to kill Edward's mate, Bella, for revenge. Victoria didn't know how to get through Edward and his family to kill Bella, so she found a boy named Riley, turned him into a vampire, tricked him into thinking she loved him so she could manipulate him into finding and maintaining a vampire army to take out Edward's family so she could kill Bella. The end."

The silence in the room following my short rendition of all the events leading up to now was oddly reminiscent of the night of my birthday party. Riley was staring at me like I was the psycho one, Emmett was watching Riley like he was psycho, and Jasper was still shaking his head. Riley was the first to break the silence. "So, you're saying that Victoria lied to me about…everything?"

I hated this part. I knew I had to break poor Riley's heart, but he had to know the truth eventually. "Regrettably, yes."

At this point I thought Riley was going to cry. "But, she said-she loves me!" Whoa, wait a minute. I think he's getting angry. Emmett! Jasper! HELP! "I know she does! You're dead!"

And, with that, Riley finally lost it and sprang for the kill.

* * *

**That's all she wrote! I'll try to work more in the future, hopefully wrapping things up soon. Review for me, and again, I apologize for the long wait. I hope it was worth it!**

**Btw, there will only be a short preview for the next chapter...mainly because it's just the first line :)**

_**Preview for the next chapter:**_

__The next three days were the very definition of hell.


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